2017 OLD DECANIAN NEWS
www.deanclose.org.uk/olddecanians SUMMER 2017 Edition 3
r e k c e fl
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Old Decanian Society Committee 2016~17
President: Lord Bernard Ribeiro CBE (Tower, 1962) Chairman Nick Akerman (Gate, 1980) - Trustee
Welcome by the
Chairman
A
warm welcome to you all to the third edition of the Flecker, reviewing last year’s activity in the OD Society. As usual, a lot has happened and it has been fantastic to catch up with visiting ODs throughout the year.
As we continue to build on the Society’s activities, we thought that it was imperative to undertake a survey of our members to see what they want from the Society so that the wants and needs of our membership can guide the strategy moving forward. The survey pointed out three key areas for us to focus on: careers and business networking, increased activities based on members’ interests and more regional gatherings. Sub-committees have now been set up so that we can deliver on this.
As Chairman I want to express my sincere thanks to all the Committee for their hard work this year. We have had two new Committee Members join us this year, Tim Lawrence (also a member of F&GP) and Louise Akenhead. Both have brought a great deal of enthusiasm and will be great ambassadors I’m sure. We will continue to refresh the committee and work towards true representation of our membership in terms of gender, age and interests. Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank David Evans for the day to day line-management of the OD Office. We would not be where we are today without the support and guidance that David gives to Alex and his colleagues. With very best wishes, Nick Akerman (Gate 1980)
OD Secretary: Alex Hume (Dale, 2002) - Trustee
Louise Akenhead (Mead – 2008) Robin Bayliss (Tower - 1983) Garth Banks (Dale - 2002) John Denley (Court - 1988) Helen Gregory (Hatherley - 2012) Rupert Lane (Gate - 1962) Tim Lawrence (Field - 1976) - Trustee John Lee (Brook - 2001) Andrew Marquand (Field - 1971) - Trustee Isobel Shayle (Mead/Shelburne - 2002) Jeremy Winter (Court - 1961)
Honorary Members: David Evans - Senior Master DCS Roger Jones - Dean Close Foundation Warden (Interim) Julie Kent - Current Staff Representative Richard Taylor - Former Deputy Head of DCS Contact Details: Please contact Alex Hume at aahume@deanclose.org.uk Old Decanian Society Dean Close School, Shelburne Road, Cheltenham, Glos, GL51 6HE Tel: 01242 258048
The PODS are a key link between the OD office and the pupil body at Dean Close Thank you to this year’s PODS (Pupil Old Decanians). Brook Court
Freddie Faux*
Fawley
Grace Starling*
Gate
Henry Burgess
Dale
Field
George Howell
Hatherley Mead
Shelburne Tower
Turner
Andrew Whitford*
Katie Colbert-Smith Iza Bruce
Evelyn Dick*
Peter Hicks-Beach (Chairman) Alexia Morris*
*indicates that they are in the L6th and will continue to be a POD for 2017/2018
PODS
They have done a fantastic job in hosting at events and have also collected all the leavers’ contact information which enables us to keep in contact with our newest members of the ODS! 2 FLECKER I SUMMER 2017
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Welcome by the
President
We are now well into our 126th year as a Society and it has been another fabulous year; a year where I have also had the honour of being asked to be President of the School taking over the baton from Baroness Caroline Cox, whose outstanding service as President since 2001, comes to an end. Some of my special moments this year include listening to my old school friend, Professor Timothy Bliss, address the whole School in a fascinating lecture about ‘memory’. This was followed by the launch of Distinguished Old Decanians, a book published by the School Historian, Charles Whitney, which includes over 600 ODs, a fascinating read.
We said goodbye to Dean Close legend, Denys Carnill, in a special service of remembrance in the Dean Close Memorial Chapel. The emotional service was led sensitively by Rev’d Paul Youde (Field 1965) and with superb contributions by Hareb Al-Darmaki (Field 1970), former member of common room Martin Bowden, and Tony Nunn, a close friend of Denys who played international hockey alongside him. A very fitting service attended by many ODs, Common Room, friends and family.
We were delighted to appoint Emma Taylor as the new Warden of the Dean Close Foundation. Emma was DCS Senior Mistress for 7 years and returns to Dean Close from a successful 10 years at Christ College Brecon. We look forward to supporting her in any way we can to ensure that the Dean Close Foundation goes from strength to strength under her guidance. In last year’s edition of Flecker I alluded to some substantial developments that were in the initial planning stages. I am delighted that construction on the first stage - a new Day House Village - will start at the end of October this year. For more information on this please read the article in the News from the Development Office section of this magazine. We will keep you up to date with all the developments and hope that over the coming years you can come back and see how the School has evolved and might consider supporting the School in the future. As mentioned in Alex’s and Nick’s welcomes, we hope to ensure that we have events that are suitable for all ODs. I was excited and not surprised to see from the survey that ‘89% would recommend an OD event to their peers’ and that ‘32% said that they would like to be more involved with the OD Society’. All this ensures that our Society continues to flourish.
Lord Bernard Francisco Ribeiro
OD Liaison Officer - Alex Hume
T
his year we have seen over 700 people attend OD events or visit the School. Some of the highlights have included a visit to St Paul’s Cathedral to listen to the Dean Close Senior School Chapel Choir; our spectacular fireworks display on Big Field; the inaugural Dean Close Sixes (a girls' alumni hockey tournament); and the Bacon Theatre donors’ reception prior to the incredible School musical, Fiddler on the Roof. In total there were 42 events worldwide that ODs attended.
As Nick mentioned in his welcome, a survey of our members was undertaken to allow us to collect your views and the responses analysed to influence our strategy moving forward. The survey indicated the real eagerness of the alumni to remain engaged with the School….three key areas of focus moving forward are: 80 70 60 50
65%
40 30 20
23%
18%
Careers & Business Networking 65% of employed ODs would like to be more involved in business networking, careers advice and guidance.
Regional Events 23% of the OD network are based in Gloucestershire, 16% London, 47% elsewhere in the UK, 4% Europe and 10% ROW. 40% would like to attend an event close to where they live. 10 0
Diversification of the range of activities on offer to cater for the range of interest groups. 18% said there was room for improvement in the range of activities on offer. 123 commented on how we could better include OD parents and families with young children I want to thank the School, especially the Archive and Development departments, for all of their ongoing support of the Society as it ensures that the ODS continues to thrive. Don’t forget to keep us updated if you have any OD news or if your contact details change, at www.deanclose.org.uk/update-your-details Alex Hume (Dale 2002)
(Tower, 1962)
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International OD Reps Alabama: Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) (Shelburne 1997) Los Angeles: Ian Bishop (Court 1981) San Diego: Caroline Harwood (Shelburne 1981) Charmaine Haworth (Shelburne 1991) San Francisco: Sam Pickering Pick (Field 1997) Seattle: David Richardson (Tower 1954) Washington DC: Farrokh Jahandari (Tower 1981) Ottawa: Chuck Kennedy (Tower 1986) Singapore Richard Toh (Gate 1968) Sara Lynn Burrough (Shelburne 1976) Hong Kong: David Ho (Gate 1985) Dubai: Nick Anderson (Dale 2001) Abu Dhabi: Rob Kinder (Dale 2001) Oman: John Keane (Tower 1993) Qatar: John Toon (Gate 1976) South Africa (Johannesburg): Rick Hogben (Gate 1965) Denmark: Euan Boddington (Tower 1983) Australia (Perth): Stefanie Jones (nee Brooking) (Shelburne 1990) If you would like to get in contact with any of the representatives please contact the OD office.
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News from the
Decades 1940’s
Oral history with Vivian Harris (Walton 1943) On the 19th May last year we had a visit from an Old Decanian, Vivian Harris, who arrived at Dean Close in the Trinity Term of 1935 - an amazing 71 years ago - and was joined by his daughter-in-law Trudy. He took part in an oral history interview with our Archivist and School Historian.
Grace Pritchard-Woods, the School Archivist writes: “Vivian was able to add some colour to our understanding of Dean Close during the period that he was at School here. This was a time when Percy Bolton was Headmaster, when theatre had not long been embraced by the school with the Tuckwell Theatre opening in 1937, built by the boys themselves; a time when war would engulf the country causing Vivian to be part of the Dean Close contingent who were evacuated to Monkton Combe School in Bath. This was just the tip of the iceberg, and as you can imagine we enjoyed a fascinating morning with him talking about his memories of life at the school. He remembered some of the old legends of Dean Close lore including Hedley Warr, Heller Nicholls, FRH Bryant and the great Edward Ellam, with Vivian recounting Ellam’s habit of a swift 'puff' about the face if you put your foot on the 1st XI pitch, hence his nickname, puff Ellam.
As a choir boy Vivian made his name when he dropped a cricket ball in chapel which rolled all the way down the aisle, at which point, he was asked whether he preferred the choir or cricket? Being quite a sportsman Vivian chose the latter and was very quickly despatched out of the choir.
Much to our delight he was also able to put some names to an old photograph we had from Walton Court. Unfortunately, we have many photographs in the School archive collection which do not list the names of those featured. Information such as this is gold dust and so Vivian’s input, not to mention his wonderful reminiscences of his days at Dean Close, was a wonderful addition to the collection. We are most grateful to both him and Trudy for what was a thoroughly enjoyable visit”.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1950 - 1959 Roger Sutton (Court 1952) sent in the School Rules from 1951. Have a read…. ‘Compulsory wearing of mortar boards outside of School grounds or straw hats in the summer!’
News from
Arthur Blyth (Walton 1944):
Arthur’s 90th Birthday! Six ODs from the 1940s, with the combined ages of 529 celebrated Arthur’s birthday on 27th July 2016. Arthur also wrote:
“In May this year I took ten of the family to the military cemetery of La Délivrande in Douvres, Normandy, to see the grave of my eldest brother, Robert - among over 1300 other graves, many of the soldiers in their teens and twenties. Robert was 21 and a Lance Corporal in the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Battalion. He died of his wounds on 19th July 1944, a few weeks after D-Day. He’d left Dean Close in 1941, as Head of Walton Court. I felt very proud of him”.
Alan Culpin (Brook 1957) after teaching Colorado and Western American History at a local College in Denver, Alan now buys and sells rare and out-of-print books. The shop is called Abracadabra and was established in 1976. Alan still resides in Denver in the US.
Left to right: Peter Lynam (Gate 1946), Paddy House (Gate 1948), Arthur Blyth, John Blyth, Tim Stringer (Gate 1947) and Derek Reynolds (Gate 1946). Among them were three successive Heads of Gate House – Peter, Tim & Paddy.
A picture from Cotswold Hills Golf Club of John Moore (Tower 1956) celebrating his 79th birthday this year in June. He was joined by ODs Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) and Jeremy Winter (Court 1961).
Stefan White (Gate 1959) has retired from a successful entrepreneurial business career, having formed and sold two companies, one specialising in prestigious gifts for men and the other in wine gifts and wine accessories. He now lectures in the UK on Garden and Golf History and for the last 12 years has lectured on cruise ships, focusing on Destination and Port talks in the Mediterranean and Western Europe.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1960’s Michael Stevens (Gate 1960) and his wife paid Dean Close a visit, in June, whilst in the UK from Ottawa, Canada. They both had a guided tour of the School by Mr Milne.
The 1986 Gold Cup winner Dawn Run was owned by Charmian Hill and all three of her sons Jeremy (Gate 1961), Oliver (Gate 1963) and Barton (Tower 1972) Parkinson-Hill. Dawn Run is the most successful mare in the history of National Hunt Racing and her statue overlooks the parade ring at Cheltenham Racecourse!
Did you know... that Martin & Co based in Cheltenham town centre has been providing the Cheltenham Gold Cup for over 70 years? In 1930, they created the first Cheltenham Gold Cup. Ian Dimmer (Tower 1960) and Nigel Dimmer (Tower 1963) joined the family business and to this day, every year a new Gold Cup is handmade by the company.
Nicholas Norman (Field 1963) sent in this fantastic photo of the OD table at the DCS Hockey Dinner held at Gupshill Manor in 1966. The men from left to right are: David Carpenter (Field 1963), Nick Norman, Mike Girling, Nigel Dimmer (Tower 1963), Chris Kenyon, Guy Horton (Field 1963) and Mike Foster (Field 1965). The ladies were the wives and girlfriends.
The Revd Dr Martin McCaw (Gate 1963) is a ‘retired’ Baptist minister for whom retirement is a myth… For the past 6 years he has been chaplain to 1378 Mold Squadron of the RAF cadets, and is currently serving as the Wing Chaplain for No.2 Welsh Wing. His patch covers Llandrindod Wells in mid-Wales to Holyhead, Ruabon and Chirk which are a few miles south of Wrexham. There are 21 squadrons in total and they won't give him a helicopter!!
Chris Badger (Brook 1966), Nigel Timson (Tower 1965), Robert Reed (Brook 1962), Rupert Lane (Gate 1962) and Jeremy Winter (Court 1961) pictured here catching up at Lords for the ODI vs Pakistan in August 2016.
Tim Graham (Brook 1965) is teaching English in Western China. He has been on a number of travel breaks recently including China, Gobi Desert and Eastern Tibet. As you can see from the photos, he has got to know the local wildlife! Richard Pavitt (Brook 1969) and John Yearwood (Brook 1970) visited Dean Close this year whilst John was over from Nevis in the Caribbean visiting the UK. Both run the Nevis Blues Festival (www.nevisbluesfestival.com), which you can get concessionary hotel and festival tickets for as an OD! Just contact them directly.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1970’s Joseph Hudson (Brook 1970) who was at Dean Close from January to June in 1970 on an ESU exchange programme from the US, wrote to us from Virginia to say that he has now retired from the construction industry and continues his global travels and study of Ancient History. Joseph and his wife have just had five weeks hiking in Crete, prowling Minoan ruins, and enjoying the Libyan Sea. Usually each year he spends time volunteering on construction help programmes throughout the world (Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, Moldova, Austria and Mexico), working on projects organised through his local Baptist Church. Alan Price (Gate 1971) played international Penny Farthing polo at Guards Polo Club, Windsor Park, on Sunday 25th June and thrashed the Scottish 8-5 in front of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. This is his 3rd season as an International for England and he claims to be one of the UK's oldest international sportsmen at 64. Alan also races Penny Farthings against the world’s best, with mixed results - probably due to the poor aerodynamics as he sometimes wears his Deliveroo work attire to race in!
Philip Leopold (Field 1973) sent in a photo he found whilst clearing out some cupboards. It’s from when he was at the Palace receiving his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award in 1974. Philip is at the back in the center, Chris Pomfret (Field 1973) is third from left, Nick Mason (Field 1974) is second from the right and the lady on the far right we believe to be Celia Phipps (nee Oliver) (Mead 1973). Does anyone recognize the other girls? If you do, let us know at the OD office. Some of the Class of 1972 (ish) are meeting up for a pub lunch near Hungerford on Tuesday 17th October 2017. If you would like to find out more or join please contact Stephen Oxlade (Court 1972) at stephen@oxlade.org Picture below from last year at the Swan Inn at Great Shefford. From left to right: Paul Hilltout (Field), Stephen Oxlade (Court), Mike Motum (Court), Mike Martin (Gate), Dick Morris (Tower), Chris Davidge (Brook), Andrew Marquand (Field), Tony Ayres (Tower), Tessa Shaw (nee Ford) (Mead), Steve Shaw (Tower)
John Simpson OBE (Tower 1971) has published a new book called The Word Detective which featured on BBC Radio 4's Book of the Week. John was Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary between 1993–2013 and under his editorship, over 60,000 new words and meanings were added, including the word ‘selfie’!
James Johnson (Gate 1974) - forth from the left met up with Jean Edwards (Mead 1973) - second from the left, on the beach in Antigua last March whilst on holiday with their partners and university friends. Apparently it was such fun that it may become an annual reunion!
A number of Dean Close pupils went to watch David Weston (Brook 1973) play the role of Mr Kipps in the superb “spine chilling” production of The Woman In Black at the Everyman Theatre in January. The Woman in Black took a break from its record-breaking run at the Fortune Theatre in London's West End to go on a major UK tour this year. David, who goes by the stage name David Acton, also spent time at Dean Close this year taking workshops with drama scholars, which was very much appreciated by the pupils.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Extreme angler Jeremy Wade (Tower 1974) is back on our TV screens with his latest series of River Monsters. This time he is fishing for the mysteries of the oceans… Friday nights on ITV. @RiverMonstersUK
Tony Ayres (Tower 1975) is still living in Rosson-Wye and bumps into Mark Savidge (Tower 1973) (mainly at parties!) every now and again. Tony is now semi-retired from the IT and Management Consultancy industry and has taken up a part time role as Rifle Shooting Coach at Cheltenham College, as well as continuing as an adult volunteer in the Army Cadet Force.
Eve Seymour (nee Isherwood) (Mead 1976) has realised a long held dream and has been signed up for three novels by Harper Collins. House of Lies, a psychological thriller with female lead, is due out this summer. A Deadly Trade and Final Target, both part of the Josh Thane series, will be released later in 2017. Her latest novel Vixenhead was published by Harper Collins’ imprint, HarperImpulse, on March 24th 2017 and is a psychological drama, focusing on secrets and family lies.
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Andrew Jessop (Dale 1978) is now into his fourteenth year as a local authority member on the Isle of Man and his fifth as their Chairman. They just concluded the sale of Cronkbourne Village, the only 'industrial village' on the island and birthplace of renowned arts and craft artist/designer, Archibald Knox, the founder of the Lloyds pharmacy chain and now an IOM resident. The authority have also recently gone out to tender on a proposed new multi-million pound sport and community centre, which, if built, will be one of the most ambitious local authority developments in the IOM for several decades.
Alastair Yearwood (Tower 1976) is now a grandfather, after his son and Italian wife had a baby girl called Zoe. His daughter who lives in Belfast is pregnant, the baby due in November.
It was great to have Philip Hooker (Court 1976) back at School this summer with his wife Diane and daughter Julia. They were visiting the UK from Farmington, US to attend a special exhibition at Kew Gardens. The exhibition was marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Philip’s great-great grandfather, Sir Joseph Hooker, by displaying a selection of his photographs, journals and paintings. Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) was a tireless traveller and plant collector, a founder of modern botanical classification and a close friend of Charles Darwin. Kew was at the heart of Hooker’s career and he helped add thousands of specimens to its collections.
Henry Hodgkins (Field 1978) has started in a new role at Warwick Butchart Associates in Cheltenham as Financial Adviser and Marketing Director. Henry has taken on the role after being on ‘garden leave’ since May 2013 when he sold his business Bellpenny. Henry is still a Member of the School Council at Dean Close, but has stepped down from being on the OD Committee after nearly 20 years of service.
Andrew has just returned from a several thousand kilometres’ motorcycle trip to Breganze, Italy, the home of Laverda motorcycles, for a weekend rally. Andrew said, “It was quite a challenging trip on the way down. We had horribly wet and cold conditions in Belgium for the Classic Bike races at Spa Francochamps and then incredibly hot and humid conditions in Italy. The outbound trip was made more difficult as my riding partner and I were joined at Spa by an 80+ year old (with a crippled right leg) out to prove to another club member he could still ride his 1200cc Laverda all the way to Italy from the UK. By the time he had left Spa he had already fallen off the bike three times, but somehow, with the help of one other club member, we managed to shepherd him to Italy in one piece. I very much doubt I will be trying to emulate his achievement in 20 or so years' time - it was tough enough at 57!”. Simon Harris (Gate 1979), the awardwinning British journalist works for ITV News as their Senior Correspondent for London, most recently reporting the breaking news from the 2017 General Election. Simon reports on all the major London events; follow him on Twitter @simonharrisitv.
Chris Skae (Dale 1979) retired from the Thames Valley Police in 2011 after 30 years’ service. He moved to Stanford in the Vale 5 years ago and the landlord of the local pub (www.horseandjockey.org) is an Old Decanian called Charles Gaunt (Brook 1967). I hope Chris is getting preferred rates on his bar tab!
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
1980’s John Yen (Brook Court 1982) visited Dean Close from Hong Kong earlier in the year. He would love to hear from any ODs that were in his year at School. If you would like to get in contact with John, then please email the OD office – ods@deanclose.org.uk.
DATUK Chris S. Thiagarajah (Court 1983), in February was conferred the Panglima Mahkota Wilayah (PMW) - Knight Commander of the Territorial Crown – which was awarded by King Agong of Malaysia. Chris is pictured here with his wife Sharinee at Istana Negara, the King’s Palace.
Congratulations to Robert AhomkaLindsay (Gate 1984) who earlier this year was made the Deputy Minister of Trade & Industry for Ghana. He is pictured here giving a briefing to Investors in London on behalf of Invest in Africa. David Ho (Gate 1985) visited Dean Close with his wife and son this summer. David is the ODS Hong Kong Representative and is keen to welcome any visitors or hear from any residents. We are hoping to have another OD Hong Kong reunion this year.
Richard Austen (Dale 1983), Racing Post and former Timeform journalist, has written a book all about the Cheltenham Festival, called At the Festival: Racing to Glory at Cheltenham in March. You can purchase this online at Amazon. Chuck Kennedy (Gate 1986) popped into DCS whilst on a business trip to the UK. Chuck lives in Ottawa, Canada and is one of our OD Canadian Representatives. He is pictured in the centre (sunglasses on!) of the Gate House photo from 1986. Also pictured here at the line-out fighting for the ball with Jonathan Rooke (Field 1985) during a Gate vs Field House rugby match.
Mike Latham (Gate 1986), in August 2017, completed a solo swim across the English Channel which took him 21 hours and 2 mins. He raised over £5,000 for a Worthing-based animal rescue charity called Waders.
Matthew Hall (Court 1987), Director of Panter & Hall, an art gallery based on Pall Mall, London exhibited a collection of artworks at the inaugural Fresh Art Fair at Cheltenham Racecourse last May.
After nearly 14 years of playing and coaching top level hockey in South Africa, Belgium and the Netherlands, Simon Organ (Field 1989) will be returning to the UK with his wife and two young daughters. At the end of August he will start as the Director of Hockey at Queen's College, Taunton.
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1990’s In June we had a visit from two of our International ODs, James Robinson (Brook 1990) from the US and Lamin Marenah (Brook 1988) from Ghana. They came back to Cheltenham for a lunch and tour of the School which was followed by reacquainting themselves with the Cheltenham nightlife. It was great to have Lisa Lodwig (nee Smith) (Mead 1993) back at School recently after 24 years away, this time in a professional capacity. Lisa is a photographer and came back to Dean Close to take some promotional pictures for our School literature. You can view some of her images on her website: www.lisalodwigphotography.co.uk. Dr Heather Whitney (Mead 1995) gave birth to a daughter, Gwen, on 17th May - a sister for Tam.
John Wenham (Field 1993) emigrated to Australia with his wife Sarah and daughter Esther 5 years ago. They work in a rural community 300 miles NW of Adelaide as a GP and Palliative Care Physician respectively. They recently became Australian citizens. Dave Jones (Field 1994) and his wife Lisa welcomed twins into the world earlier this year. Oscar and Rosie were born on the 21st April 2017.
Melissa Bastin (Mead 1994) finished working as a full time teacher at Pangbourne College in 2016. She is now working as a part time photographer in Oxfordshire, specialising in dog photography, equestrian sports and game shoot photography whilst still teaching part-time. Visit her website: www.poloimages.org
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David Auckland (Field 1996) popped into Dean Close when visiting family in the local area. Luckily is was a Friday ... and he loved the School fish & chips!
Nicholas Burne (Tower 1997) of Fearless Facebook Marketing came in to run a session with DCS U6th Business Studies pupils in March. Nick has worked on Digital Campaigns for UNICEF, The National Trust and Christian Aid. Clare Gamble (nee Marchand) (Mead 1997) started as a Consultant in Respiratory and General Internal Medicine at the Royal United Hospital, Bath in January 2017. Her specialist interests are Lung Cancer, Bronchiectasis and EBUS-TBNA (an invasive procedure which speeds up the diagnosis of lung cancer). She is married to Tom, a GP, and they have 2 children, Peter aged 7 and Lucy aged 5, who are both due to start at King Edward's School in Bath in September. They have just moved to Newbridge, Bath.
Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) (Shelburne 1997) has 4 children - all boys (!). She is married to a rocket-scientist (yes, really!) and is soon to be moving to Alabama from Pennsylvania in the USA as her husband is starting a position with NASA. Kirsten also helped pull together the Class of 1997 reunion which was held this year at Commemoration. Major Edward Taylor (Field 1998) is now a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Dean Close Foundation, after being a Member of Council for many years.
Ben Marsden (Dale 1998) was 1st XI captain at Dean Close and went on to become an international and Olympic Hockey Player, representing Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Following his retirement from international hockey, Ben became the Director of Hockey at The Wimbledon Club where he has remained for the last eleven years. The Wimbledon Club is a traditional Sports Club encompassing Hockey, Cricket, Tennis and Squash. Throughout this period, Ben has been awarded the Club Coach of the Year Award by England Hockey and this season the Men's 1st team received the England Hockey Men's Team of the Year Award.
Ben has overseen the development and expansion of the Junior section which has risen from 90 junior players to 650. In the last ten years, the Senior section has also seen a dramatic change as the Ladies 1st team won the National League Conference East and progressed to the Premiership Play offs this season, which is a big step forward for the club. The men's 1st team have been promoted 5 times, progressing from London League Div 1 to the English Premier League. In the last three years, the Wimbledon Men's 1st team have won the Premier Division play offs twice and, last season, won the Premier Division, 7 points clear of second place. As a result of winning the Championship, Wimbledon are currently the UK's most decorated European team - progressing through the EHL KO16 last season and competing at the EHL KO4 Competition this summer in Antwerp. Wimbledon is now officially the 4th best team in Europe. Ben has coached within the England Hockey system for a number of years and most recently has assisted the GB under 21 Men's team as part of the GB development program. "My passion for hockey started shortly before joining Dean
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Close and thanks to opportunities the School afforded, I have been lucky enough to continue working within a sport I love. I am really proud that Wimbledon HC is now recognised as a beacon of hockey excellence. I have strived to create a clear pathway for players of all ages to play both social and elite hockey. The success at Wimbledon has attracted a number of international players to join, including Olympic Gold and Bronze medallist, Crista Cullen and triple Olympian Ben Hawes. We now have 10 Olympians playing and coaching throughout the club which is hugely inspiring to the next generation.” Ben Hall (Gate 1999) is now firmly outnumbered after he and Rachel welcomed Miriam into the world on 3rd July, a little sister to Esther. Ben continues to serve in the rank of Lt Col with the Royal Army Medical Corps and is also working for the local Air Ambulance.
2000’s Juling Ong (Dale 1999) pictured far left, was one of the Surgeons who worked to reconstruct the face of 17 year old Erick Rwabirire.... ‘The Boy with No Face’. The documentary following the reconstruction was broadcast on 4th October 2016 on Channel 5. Bradley Mears (Brook 1999) married Kate Nicholls at Slad Church on Friday 1st September 2017. Old Decanians at the wedding included his brother James Mears (Best Man), Ushers: Richard Lynall, Philip Spearpoint and James Petrie; and also in attendance were John Nicholson, Dave Jones, David Kenyon and James Davies.
AliKats Mountain Holidays in Morzine run by Al Judge (Field 1998) and his wife Kat had one of their self-catering chalets (Chalet 1788) listed in The Times 'Top 20 Coolest Chalets in the Alps'.
Great to see two Old Decanians playing in the same match in the European Champions Cup. Tom Johnson (Tower 2000) in the red cap pictured below playing for Exeter and Peter Browne (Field 2006) in the black cap top left playing for Ulster. Exeter Chiefs won 31-19. Pete Browne also pictured below coming away with the ball, after helping Ulster prevent a try...not quite enough to beat Bordeaux in the Champions Cup though.
It was Tom's testimonial year last year. This included a fans quiz night, The Great Gatsby Party at Exeter Cathedral and a golf day at Woodbury Park. However, the highlight of the testimonial was Tom Johnson's charity calendar which can still be purchased online. Tom's testimonial supported two very worthy charities, Exeter Foundation and The Royal Marines Charity.
Al Judge comments: “AliKats Mountain Holidays is going from strength to strength in Morzine and we are taking on 3 new properties for this coming winter, one of which, The View, was designed specifically for us and is absolutely stunning! When booking this chalet, guests can enjoy the Indulgence Package which includes vintage Bollinger champagne on arrival - the choice of champagne was inspired by a fascinating evening I enjoyed with Jeremy Irons who gave the keynote speech at The Bollinger Club at DCS in 1998!”. www.alikats.eu
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Tom Mans (Tower 2004), former strength-andconditioning coach at Bath Rugby and now a Personal Trainer based at The Gym Way near Marble Arch in London, was interviewed in The Sunday Times Magazine about cardiovascular training versus weight training. To view the article visit Tom’s website www.tommans.com.
Tim Chamberlain (Gate 2001) took all ten wickets in an innings! He claimed amazing figures of 10-13 in 7.3 overs for Warborough & Shillingford. The opposition were bowled out for 32 to earn an 85-run victory. Chamberlain, who works on the family farm near Benson commented, “It’s something I’ve dreamt of doing, but never thought I would achieve. We don’t cover our pitch at Warborough, so it was a helpful wicket on which to bowl after all the rain that fell the day before”. Andrew Settatree (Court 1997 R Class of 2001) has been appointed to a new role as a Ministry Assistant on the Llyn Peninsular in North Wales after 8 years as a Youth Worker for a Scripture Union Local Mission Partner called Cynllun Efe in Llanberis. He will be working for the churches in the Presbytery, leading the youth and children’s work and schools’ work, as well as regularly preaching and assisting the ordained ministers in their day-to-day ministry. Having left the Army, Jamie Hall (Gate 2002) is now firmly settled in New Zealand, enjoying plenty of time in the mountains climbing and skiing.
Robin Davies (Field 2002) married Jennifer Faithfull last summer, a festival inspired day in the blazing sunshine with a corker of a speech from best man Garth Banks (Dale 2002).
We said goodbye to Georgina Hildick-Smith (Shelburne 2003) who has been an invaluable member of staff at Dean Close both within the English and Drama department. Georgina moves to Magdalen College School, Oxford to teach English. Keep in touch Georgie! On October 28 Georgie marries Benjamin Nicholas, former Director of Choral Misic at DCS.
Ed Skinner (Tower 2003) married his long-term girlfriend Lorna in May at Ellenborough Park in Cheltenham.
Tom Hall (Gate 2005) is nearing the end of his exchange programme in the United States and will soon be returning to the UK to continue to serve with the Army Air Corps. Congratulations are also in order as Tom got engaged to Cari in August 2017.
Who has seen the blockbuster film Dunkirk? Did you know that Ben Powell (Dale 2005) worked very closely with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack for the film and played all the violin solos. Listen out for him! En route from Brighton to Pembrokeshire for a family holiday, Chris Lomas (Gate 2002) dropped into School with wife Helena and their two boys for a wander around the Prep and Senior Schools.
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Ben was Principal First Violin in the Orchestra that accompanied Adele through Hello and her George Michael tribute at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Amazing performance from the Orchestra (and Adele)! Ben pictured here, just to the left of Adele.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Last September Ashok Gupta (Dale 2006) played a Piano Recital at Syde Manor near Cheltenham for Friends of Farm Gloucestershire in aid of Farm Africa. The programme included works by Bach, Mozart, Schumann and Chopin. Congratulations to Pete Browne (Field 2006) who married Hannah at the Larchfield Estate in Belfast last July. ODs L-R: Joe Hill (Brook Court 2007), Dan Akenhead (Field 2006), Pete Browne, Jono Watkiss (Field 2006), Lucie Hill (nee McHardie-Jones) (Mead 2006) and Jonty Strachan (Field 2006).
Jo Crisp (Fawley 2002) married her stunner of a husband Old Bradfieldian, Tom Swallow on Saturday 2nd September at Sapperton Church. Pictured her with their little boy Teddy. Lots of ODs in attendance, and a fantastic wedding! Charlie De Rusett (Tower 2005) back in September launched a new business called Idea Drop, which is an idea capture and collaboration software which helps organisations generate and record new ideas! The company was featured in TechCrunch at the start of the year. To find out more visit the website www.ideadrop.co Richard Brown (Brook Court 2005) married his fiancée Cindy at St Mary’s Church, Cheltenham on Saturday 3rd September 2016.
Jack Losh (Dale 2006) reported on the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine as a freelance journalist for Newsweek, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Washington Post and other international publications, covering both the battlefront and humanitarian issues. He was shortlisted at the Frontline Club Awards in the Print Journalism category, while his documentary on the Kurdistan football team, filmed in northern Iraq, was shortlisted at the RTS Television Journalism Awards and One World Media Awards.
Past Member of Common Room, Martin Bowden (1972 - 2007), is a group leader for Art History in Churchdown U3A (University of the Third Age). The group has now been running for a year. He also exhibits his art at the Paragon Gallery in Cheltenham. www.paragongallery.co.uk/martin-bowden
In July 2016 Nadia Tupper (Fawley 2005) married Kristian Piolet in Marbella, Spain.
Oliver Sum (Brook Court 2006) married his fiancée Hannah Preedy (Admissions Co-ordinator at Dean Close) at Kingscote Barn, Tetbury on Sunday 20th August 2017. It’s lovely that the School now have links with both of them.
Ryan Hill (Field 2006) married Georgie Hopley at St Stephens Church, Tivoli, Cheltenham, on Saturday 2nd September.
Whilst you have been enjoying your summer holidays, Danny Pang (Field 2007) and Alex Harrison (Field 2007) have been driving their £350 1.2L Nissan Micra 10,000 miles through 20 countries and five mountain ranges from the UK to Mongolia. The annual Mongol Rally attracts hundreds of teams and is a big adventure, all in the name of charity. Danny and Alex entered as the ‘Mongol Knights' and have been raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Cool Earth. You can read all about their adventure and donate at www.mongolknights.com.
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Chris Gregory (Tower 2008) plays Beach Volleyball for Great Britain. Chris came back to Dean Close last year as an Athlete Mentor (part of the Sky Sports Living for Sports Programme) and inspired pupils to take up some of the not-somainstream sports. At 6ft 10in Chris is certainly suited to Volleyball! www.gbrbeachvolleyball .com
Rebecca Cousins (nee Lomas) (Shelburne 2007) came back to DCS to meet up with Mrs Kent in April. Rebecca married Ed Cousins (Brook Court 2006) at Dean Close Chapel and her parents donated a bench as a memory of that day. Rebecca took a moment to show the new addition to the Cousins’ family, the bench and Chapel where her parents tied the knot.
Matthew Richardson (Dale 2006 V - Class of 2008) has recently had a book published by Penguin on the 13th July 2017. My Name is Nobody is a sophisticated, pacey and accomplished debut novel by 26-year-old rising star Matthew Richardson. Appealing to fans of the TV series Homeland and The Night Manager - as well as I Am Pilgrim, Nomad, Charles Cumming and Robert Harris - this is a gripping, multi-layered and assured debut thriller that drips with an insider's knowledge of London's corridors of power.
Stephen Chan (Gate 2009) visited Dean Close as he was in the country for a wedding. After completing his PhD in Biology at Cambridge, Stephen moved back to Hong Kong where he is currently working as a Junior Associate at McKinsey & Company.
In August 2016, we had a visit from Dr Arisa Takada (Fawley 2008) who lives in Nagoya City near Toyota in Japan. Arisa was on her way back to Japan to continue her professional medical qualifications. James Melville (Tower / Field 2009) has recently been made Head of Ancient History and Head of Rugby at Harrow School, London. James has also just co-authored a new GCSE ancient history textbook, ‘OCR Ancient History GCSE Component 2: Rome’, published by Bloomsbury.
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Andrew Scrase (Gate 2009) was back inspiring the Dean Close pupils at a Francis Bacon Dinner in January. Andy spoke about his journey since leaving School and about how he got to where he is today, working for Facebook. The pupils loved hearing about how Facebook operates and how they subtly influence our online decision making.
That the Old Decanian Society awards up to eight grants of £150 per year to support projects, travel or physical challenges where there is benefit to the participating individual, and others. For more details and how to apply visit www.deanclose.org.uk/enhancement-grant.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
2010’s Hassan Yaqub (Brook Court 2010) has been accepted to Harvard University for a Bachelor of Liberal Arts through the undergraduate program at Harvard Extension School.
The Harvard Extension program was created for professionals who could not attend the university due to their professional or personal responsibilities but meet the Harvard Intellectual standards. This programs allows professionals to study at their own pace and attend classes at Harvard through their online platform. Hassan has passed multiple rigorous academic challenges to be accepted to Harvard and says, “It was a very long journey and I would not have been accepted if it wasn't for Mr Fullerton's help; what a splendid gentleman he is”. Esther Shelley (Mead 2011) daughter of Carolyn Shelley (DCPPS Headmistress) married her fiancée Lewis on the 19th August in School Chapel and had the reception in the grounds of Dean Close House. The service was led by Libby Talbot, former Chaplain of the School.
Liam Brignull (Dale 2011) has joined Bishop’s Cleeve Football Club for the 2017/18 season. His first match was against Forest Green Rovers on the 11th July, where Bishop’s Cleeve just lost out to the League Two side 0-2.
We are excited to see that Will Merrick (Tower 2011) has joined the cast of Poldark, playing the role of Arthur Solway. Follow him on Twitter @will_merrick.
In January, Old Decanians Liv Duffin (Shelburne 2011) and Georgina Hildick-Smith (Shelburne 2003) starred on stage with the Head of Speech & Drama Rebecca Vines at The Bacon Theatre in Talking Heads, one of Alan Bennett's acclaimed comedies. It was a fascinating and moving performance which explored loneliness, isolation and dashed hopes.
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My medical elective in Haiti
Ellie Riding (Fawley 2011) reports on her medical elective in Haiti and volunteering with Hope Heath Action (HHA) ... The first time I heard mention of Haiti was in 2010 after the devastating earthquake that levelled a lot of Port-au-Prince and in some ways, brought the country to its knees. I bought the ‘Hope for Haiti’ album, listened to it a few times, prayed with my church and then 6 months later, when the news stopped reporting on it, I forgot it.
The next time I heard about Haiti was in July of last year when my housemate asked me if I wanted to join her on an elective to work with Hope Health Action. We’re both final year medical students in the UK and as part of our course we are encouraged to spend six weeks of our summer in a different hospital or healthcare system around the world to gain experience and knowledge and to broaden our horizons in general. I would definitely say that I successfully achieved all of those things in Haiti, thanks to the work of others who were willing to take the time to share with me what they knew. I didn’t really have many expectations about what my six weeks would entail and what I would struggle with; I have been fortunate enough in my relatively short life to have travelled some of the world and grow up in lots of different countries and cultures and not much daunts me about a new place. I was traveling over from the Dominican Republic after a very restful two week family holiday and the opportunity to be nervous or to build expectations hadn’t really arisen. My parents also
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accompanied me to Cap-Haitien as neither of them can resist an adventure and wanted to spend a day exploring before returning to the DR. Travelling across the border was a shock, the change in the land was immediate; the soil drier, the plants hardier and the palm trees gone without a trace. In fact, the first thing I noticed was the almost complete lack of trees along the roads; Haiti has had a real problem with deforestation due to the most common source of fuel being charcoal, leading to increased flooding, salting of the earth and decreased yield from crops. Cap itself is a mishmash of brightlycoloured French colonial-style buildings set in a grid system that makes it feel like you’re walking through a giant patchwork quilt, and grey concrete block buildings that have been pieced together along the river’s edge.
The noise is deafening, especially at rush hour and the mixture of smells that come through the open windows of the vehicle can both make your stomach rumble expectantly or turn unexpectedly. Having said that, something I came to realize and appreciate about Cap, and Haiti as a whole, is the life that it exudes from every piece of concrete, every drop of water, every tap-tap or moto and every person.
Bustling is a word that begins to describe the road in to and through town; people running for a lift, shouting to sell their wares along the bridge to passers-by, a man driving with two metres of ice
strapped sideways on the back of his moto, someone hammering a piece of metal into a charcoal cooker. It’s an experience, and one that I think everyone who wants to, should have. As far as my expectations for the hospital and the work I would be doing, I had none. I knew that we would be spending around a week in each department and that sometimes I would see situations being handled differently to in the UK because of different training and resources. The hospital staff were excellent, the nurses were welcoming and extremely helpful (any good medical student knows that it’s the nurses you want on your side, they run the joint) and the doctors were willing to teach when things were quiet on the wards or in clinic. We rotated through OBGYN (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), Paediatrics, Rehab Medicine and Spinal Cord Injury, Internal Medicine and finally Emergency.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
The main thing that I learnt from my time there was that Haitian doctors and nurses know their stuff. I subconsciously approached my elective with the idea that I would somehow be able to help the doctors or teach the nurses something in my time there; I’m ashamed of myself but I think it’s often true for people who volunteer in developing countries. If there is one thing that I took away from my elective it’s this: I was not needed. It was a joy to work there, I was helpful when I could be, everyone was very welcoming and I have learnt a lot, both about Medicine and Haiti, but I was not needed. I went hoping to be able to provide something that was lacking, only to find that there wasn’t anything lacking that I could provide.
The doctors don’t have access to the same resources as we do in the Western world but as a result they have better clinical judgement than some of the most senior consultants that I’ve worked with. They are faced daily with difficult decisions that wouldn’t even exist in the UK; several of the doctors spoke of the frustrations of knowing exactly what to do in a situation but being unable to do so because of lack of resources or testing and yet they remain compassionate and motivated. Healthcare staff face an up-hill battle trying to teach basic hygiene and health to people in a culture that bases a lot of its understanding on Voodoo teaching and yet they continue to come to work every day with determination and a smile on their face. These are the things I’ve seen and the things I would like to grow in for my future career as a doctor and generally in life. The people working in the Hopital de la Convention Baptiste D’Haiti (HCBH) are amazing and it was such an honour to be able to spend six weeks getting to know them and the inner workings of the hospital. Spending time volunteering with Hope Health Action (HHA) taught me what a charity that works for and believes in ‘true’ development work in Haiti looks like. It’s a charity that is passionate about building something that is sustainable and then, when the right person comes along, handing over responsibilities with the vision that ultimately the whole operation will be run by Haitians who share the same drive. It’s a daunting challenge but it’s an amazing thing to have been able to witness for such a short time. I can’t wait to go back again and the trip has ignited a desire within me to work in the field of international development
helping to empower people in developing countries to take ownership of their own healthcare systems. It’s a desire that I quietly leave at God’s feet in the knowledge that if it’s a part of His plan, I need only be patient and continue to work to align my heart with His. If I can pass on some advice or words of encouragement to those either looking to do an elective working with HHA and HCBH or those just wanting to go and give their time and skills to the people of Haiti, it’s as follows:
1. Be prepared to have all your subconscious preconceptions blown out the water, and when it happens, don’t feel guilty about them 2. Learn as much Creole as you can. It’s a fun language and people really appreciate it 3. Be open about what your role will be while you’re there as it creates more opportunity for surprises 4. Keep a journal. It doesn’t have to be everyday but just writing things down helps you remember and process your experiences 5. If you’re coming in the summer… embrace the sweat 6. You will learn much more than you think and it’s the unexpected lessons that are the best 7. Take time each day to listen to what God is communicating to you 8. Go to Cap Deli and order the Citadelle Burger… you can thank me later 9. Whatever you end up doing, enjoy it, even the small things 10. Choosing to volunteer with HHA and spend time in Haiti is the best decision you’ll make.
Sam Warren (Field 2012) cycled across India in aid of a local charity in Delhi called Save a Child who give deprived children in India a fresh chance through long-term sponsorship. His journey took him 7 weeks as he followed the Grand Trunk Road from Amritsar to Calcutta. Whilst he was in Delhi and Calcutta he visited children's orphanages and residential schools that will be benefitting from his charity work.
Hugh Porter (Field 2012) married Holly Perrins at Trinity Church in Cheltenham on the 9th June 2017. Issy Bailey (Fawley 2012) continues to train with the Great Britain Paralympic Shooting Team and, after another good year this year, she is on course to be part of the 2020 Tokyo squad. Issy has graduated from Exeter University with a 2:1 in English Literature.
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Did you know?
Tiff Eden (Dale / Gate 2013) played for Worcester Cavaliers last rugby season. He is seen here playing against Sale in September.
That the Old Decanian Society awards up to eight grants of £150 per year to support projects, travel or physical challenges where there is benefit to the participating individual, and others. For more details and how to apply visit www.deanclose.org.uk/enhancem ent-grant.
Chrissy Ryan (Shelburne 2012) last August ran the Budapest Marathon for Hope for Children and raised over £1,300.
Chrissy commented: “It was a teary finish, but definitely up there with one of the best things I have ever done, with so many highlights, including being serenaded by the Budapest opera and my sprint finish being commentated over the tannoy!”
Grace Riley (Mead 2013) performed with the Manchester Harmony Gospel Choir on Songs of Praise, competing for the title of Gospel Choir of the Year 2016.
Harrison Williams (2013) produced, directed and conducted BRASS in concert at The Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham in February. The concert was for his final major musical project at the Birmingham Conservatoire. The reviews were outstanding! Harrison has recently recorded a new sitcom for BBC R4 called Relativity by the comedian Richard Herring which stars Alison Steadman and Phil Davis. He plays their grandson Nick. Hugo McNeill Love (Tower 2012) was commissioned from RMA Sandhurst into the Coldstream Guards on Friday 11th August 2017.
His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan represented Her Majesty the Queen at the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst which, as well as Hugo, included his own son, Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan. The Parade marks the completion of a year's intensive training for 196 officer cadets from the UK and 33 from 14 overseas countries.
Did you know? That the Old Decanian Society awards up to eight grants of
£150 per year to support projects, travel or physical challenges where there is benefit to the participating individual, and others. For more details and how to apply visit www.deanclose.org.uk/enhancement-grant.
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Who also spotted him on the Last Leg on Channel 4 on Friday 28th July doing a little sketch on the Trans Military Ban?
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Congratulations to Peter Abbott (Gate 2013) and Kristina Abbott (nee Rudaya) (Fawley 2014) who were married by the former DCS Chaplain Libby Talbot in June with lots of ODs in attendance!
On 5th September 2017, Edward Blogg (Tower 2014) will be undertaking an eleven day trek to Everest Base Camp, coupled with the immediate ascent of the neighbouring peak Kala Phattar, with 30 other students in aid of Hope for Children. This was arranged through the society Raise and Give at his university in collaboration with the charity (Ed has already done some fundraising for them by running the Bath Half marathon last March). The trek is 62km long and includes a 2,480 meter climb, spread over 11 days to allow for altitude acclimatisation, before arriving at Base Camp 5360m above sea level. It begins in Lukla, passing through Phakding, Namche Bazaar, Dingboche and Gorak Shep en route. The night of reaching Base Camp they will be climbing Kala Phattar (5545m) with the aim to catch the sun rise over Everest’s peak whilst at the summit of the mountain. www.exetereverest.everydayhero.com/uk/ everest-climb-for-hope-for-children
Ed Hunt (Dale 2014) was selected and played for England Universities in the Home Nations Tournament in Edinburgh last April. Ed has been captaining the Manchester University Men's Hockey Club over the last season. Thank you to Robert Menzies-Wilson (Dale 2014) who took time out of his busy schedule at Oxford University, where he is studying Engineering, to help prepare current student Channen Chong with a practice mock interview ahead of his formal Oxford University interviews.
DCS Senior Master David Evans caught up with some recent DCS leavers last October in Edinburgh where they are all studying at University. Emma Bruce (Mead 2015), Lucy Hicks-Beach (Shelburne 2015) and Thais Hitchens (Mead 2015) enjoyed catching up with DRE.
Zoë Etherington (Mead 2014), pictured here (R) at the DC Jump at Birdlip, last year competed in the Great Britain Student Riding Team, riding throughout Europe, and the show jumping team won gold in Germany in only her second appearance in the Nations Cup. Zoë has also captained the Edinburgh University Equestrian Club over the last year.
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Freddie Pearce (Field, 2015) launched a number of singles, including his debut single called Ghost Town as well as Waiting Game and Blueprints. Available on Spotify or on his YouTube channel.
On Christmas Eve, Stephen Whitford (Field 2015), who was awarded a Choral Scholarship to the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, sang a solo in the BBC's traditional Christmas broadcast of Nine Lessons and Carols. Stephen also gained a First in his Part I in Classics at King's, Cambridge.
GERARD’S FUND Cambridge Half Marathon Becky Daltry (Hatherley 2015) writes:
“In a slightly mad burst of enthusiasm last October, I decided to sign up for the Cambridge Half Marathon, and on Sunday (5th March), after a tough few months of training, I managed to run in a time of 1.59.43. I’m so pleased, not least because it was 23 minutes faster than my Cheltenham time in 2014. The reason I decided on this - slightly crazy plan, was to raise money for a fund set up by me and my university friend Natalia. Having gone on the 2015 Uganda trip, I really wanted to return to Eastern Africa to learn and volunteer more. Last September, therefore, Natalia and I went to Tanzania to work in an orphanage/primary school alongside Mary – a wonderfully compassionate, hard-working teacher, who is struggling through really tough circumstances. A few years ago, Mary's father disappeared and started a new family, but
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sadly is now refusing to support his ‘previous’ one. The house they were building now sits unfinished, and we visited their temporary one - a two-roomed, cardboard hut. Mary only earns 70,000 TZS (£30) per month. When we met her, she was 6 months pregnant, but we have recently heard the devastating news that she had a stillbirth.
Mary’s dearest wish is for her youngest brother to receive a proper education, which she benefitted from, but they cannot afford for him. Coincidentally, he is called Gerard: my late Grandpa - a schoolmaster for the whole of his working life - shared this name. So we decided to set up 'Gerard's Fund', in memory of my Grandpa, to help Mary achieve this aim. We are currently trying to contact several secondary schools in Arusha, aiming to send Gerard to one of them. If arranged, the
donations will go into a dedicated bank account, and we will then pay the school directly for his tuition. All the details about how this will work are on our Just Giving page (www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/gerardsfund). I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends and family, and, thanks to them, the DC Drama Department, and the OD Society, we have currently raised over £1200, which should see Gerard through at least two years of school. I want to say a massive thank you, on behalf of Natalia and I, to everyone who has donated. Hopefully Gerard will soon be in school, and this summer, when I return to Tanzania, I’m going to try my best to visit him and Mary again. The thought of this, added to all your support, got me round those 13.1 miles, and I’m incredibly grateful“.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Will Warley (Tower 2014 V – Class of 2016) visited School to talk to the pupils and staff about his recent experiences as a volunteer in the Calais Migrant Camp (known as The Jungle). He dispelled some of the cruel headlines printed in the tabloid press, told us what the reality was for those trying to enter the UK, and outlined what support was required in the camp. Back in September 2016 Will wrote:
“The refugee crisis in Calais is not a recent phenomenon; it’s been developing since the closure of Sangatte in 2002. There are currently over 10,000 refugees in the camp, around 1/10 of whom are unaccompanied minors. Unfortunately, due to the myths which have developed around the camp – for example, the myth that they’re all just ‘economic migrants’, and the failure of governments to provide for these people, it has been a crisis which has often gone ignored. The camp is currently due to be evicted by October 31st; the French Government evicted half the camp earlier this year and if this eviction is conducted in the same way, it will be rushed and extremely traumatic. However, there are things you can do in any refugee crisis. Consider donating money to www.helprefugees.org.uk or consider donating:
n Smart phones (essential for people to keep in touch with friends and family, especially when many will be split from friends they have made in the Jungle) n Backpacks
n Suitcases - so that those who choose to leave and take up spaces in accommodation centres during the eviction can take their things with them
Elsa Pool (Hatherley 2016) last year gained a full tennis scholarship to Samford University (USA). In her first season she has been named one of the ‘Southern Conference's Best Players’, a fantastic achievement in a highly competitive league and another step towards her goal of playing at Wimbledon! Tom Seabrook (Gate 2017) was included in the England Under18s squad for the three-match tour of South Africa. England faced South Africa Schools in their opening fixture on Friday 11 August in Cape Town before a match against Wales four days later. The side then finished their campaign against France on Saturday 19 August in Stellenbosch. To see the results visit www.englandrugby.com/england/england-18s. Previously, in September 2016, Tom had his first start for Gloucester United alongside Lloyd Evans (Dale 2014). They beat Saracens Storm 22 – 19 at Kingsholm, Gloucester Rugby.
n Shoes
In March, Joe Morford (Dale 2016) sang with the Merton College Choir, led by Benjamin Nicholas (Former Director of Choral Music at DCS) in the first ever Anglican Evensong at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Joe also received a Distinction (First) in his Prelims in Biology at Merton, Oxford.
Will Hewer (Dale 2017) has been selected by England Hockey for the Junior U21 European Championships which will be taking place at the end of August in Valencia, Spain. Will currently has 52 junior caps for England (15/08/17) and will be continuing his hockey with Loughborough Students when he goes to Loughborough University this year.
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News from the
Archives
by Grace Pritchard-Woods - The School Archivist
It has been yet another busy year for the Archive Department. Of particular note was the acquisition of the Cedric Kennedy Collection. Kennedy was an Art Master at the School from 19381960 with a brief hiatus during the war. He painted a number of the Headmasters’ portraits which currently hang in the Dining Hall.
and via the auction house, were able to contact the owner. Much to our surprise it turned out that rather than just one drawing the owner had a number of them and was willing to donate them to the School. Thanks to Mr Parkinson's generosity, the archive now holds approximately 29 drawings and has a much better understanding of Kennedy’s life and his work. Although we were aware of his service during the Second World War with camouflage design, we were not aware he also served during the First World War as a pilot, and having been shot down, was a POW for the rest of the war. The Imperial War Museum holds two of his paintings. One features a bi-plane on patrol from the first conflict and the other a camouflaged runway from the second.
Another major achievement this year was the research carried out by Charles Whitney to produce the Distinguished Old Decanian List. This book features those alumni who have won medals, awards, been particularly successful in their given career or else pre-eminent in their sport. It includes 606 names One such is that of the Rev’d Edward Victor Tanner, who served as a chaplain during the First World War, and was awarded the MC not once but twice. The first time was in the battle for Passchendaele Ridge in September 1917 for ‘gallant and selfsacrificing conduct’, and the second at Neuve Chapelle March 1918 for leading several men to safety and looking after a seriously wounded German while under German sniper fire. An Old Decanian himself, Tanner also worked at Dean Close as both Chaplain and
In Michaelmas last year a catalogue for a memorial exhibition held in Kennedy’s honour at Cheltenham Art Gallery in 1969, was deposited in the Archive collection. In it was featured an exhibit entitled 'Boys of Dean Close School 1945-1962’. After a little research we were able to track one of these drawings to an auction two years ago,
During the summer, the Archive Department moved from its office in the School’s main building to the far side of the School by the CCF building. This saw a large programme of packing and for some time the office was quite chaotic, but we look forward to our new premises and the challenges and opportunities that it presents. Do pop in and say hello if you are passing!
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Another entry is that of Emma Sky who returned to Dean Close last year as the guest speaker at Commemoration. Sky also published The Unravelling that year, recalling her time as Political Advisor to a top US General in Iraq, later to the US Security Coordinator for Middle East Peace Process in Jerusalem and later still to the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan. The book is available from the school shop for £5.00. It can also be viewed online at www.deanclose.org.uk/Distinguished-OldDecanians.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
300th Anniversary of Cheltenham “Spa”
son, William, rejuvenated the area by building a new Pump Room in 1775 – Pittville Pump Room.
On 12 July 1788, King George III arrived having been advised by his GP to travel to Cheltenham and drink the spa waters to cure his ailments, and the well from then on became known as the Royal Well. By the start of the 1800s, it was attracting thousands of visitors. To meet the demand, further spas began to appear including the Montpelier Spa on Bath Road and the Sherborne Spa, located at what now is the MGallery Queens Hotel.
Have you ever wondered how Cheltenham became known as Cheltenham Spa? Well, 300 years ago, local people were curious as to why pigeons gathered at the chalybeate spring to peck at the salt which it deposited. The land, close to Cheltenham Ladies’ College, was owned by a Mr Higgs, who enclosed the spring when it was realised that the waters had some form of healing powers. The Chalybeate Well still partially survives today at Sandford Park.
In 1738, a Bristol couple, Captain and Elizabeth Skillimore, who had inherited the land, moved to Cheltenham to take advantage of what they saw as a fantastic opportunity. They dug out the spring to
make a well and put in pumping equipment, landscaped the ground and built some assembly rooms (demolished to build Lloyds Bank, and replaced by the erection of Cheltenham Town Hall). They also created what is now known as Well Walk, connecting the well to the town centre. The waters were bottled and sold as far away as London, and the well received hundreds of paying visitors each year until the late 1750s when the poor conditions of roads stopped coaches travelling to the town, alongside an epidemic of the smallpox virus. However, in the 1770s, Capt. Skillimore’s
The Duke of Edinburgh, The Guniea Pig Club and Old Decanian Wing Commander Geoffrey Page DSO, OBE, DFC and Bar. The club was set up in honour of the experimental treatments of pioneering plastic surgeon, Sir Archibald McIndoe. Old Decanian, Wing Commander Geoffrey Page, DSO, OBE, DFC and Bar (Brook 1937) was shot shown in 1940 during the Battle of Britain and suffered severe burns to his face and head. He was treated by Sir Archibald McIndoe. Geoffrey became one of the founding Members of the Guinea Pig Club and its first Chairman.
On 2nd November 2016, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who is President of the Guinea Pig Club, unveiled a commemorative tablet to the Club at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. The Guinea Pig Club was founded 75 years ago, mostly by Royal Air Force aircrew who survived fiery crashes during WWII.
In retirement, he founded the Battle of Britain Trust. It raised over £1 million and funded the Battle of Britain memorial that overlooks the Straits of Dover near Hawkinge, Kent, which was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
The spas went into decline from the 1830s. The town became a non-spa in 2003 when the last functioning well at Pittville Pump Room was found to be leaking, but Cheltenham Borough Council, generously subbed by local business Kohler Mira, committed to fixing it and in 2005 a new borehole was successfully brought into use to restore the supply. If you visit Pittville Park, the refreshment kiosk was once known as the “Little Spa”, built as an alternative site, and pre-dates the Pump Room. You can still sample the spa waters at Pittville, although it is said they are not very pleasant in taste, even though believed to still cure many ills!
Article courtesy of Visit Cheltenham.
In April, the Young Decanian magazines from 1974 to the present day were made available online. They can be accessed via www.deanclose.org.uk/archives
Victorian day for Pre Prep. Re-enacting the first school photograph with Mr Whitney!
At Page’s funeral in August 2000, Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxlee-Norris declared: ‘Even by the Battle of Britain standards he was the bravest of the brave’.
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Pre-War Photos
Phil Morgan, who lives in South Wales, sent in some amazing pre-war photos that were found in a family collection. His Dad, James Morgan (1940), Uncle, Roland Pearce Morgan (Tower 1930), Grandad, Philip Sydney Morgan (1902), and Great Uncle, Capt. William Harold Morgan OBE (1903) all attended Dean Close.
Remembering Douglas Graham, former Headmaster (1954-67)
This article was taken from his obituary that was published in The Times in 1991. Mike Wigley (Court 1967) uncovered it when he was moving home recently. Mike quite rightly mentioned, “You will see that in column three there is reference to him introducing the first girls to Dean Close. Quite visionary, when you consider where the School is now!” Mike also went on to say “He was there throughout my time at Dean Close and he as well as many others remember him fondly”.
Arthur Hatt MC (1905) won a Military Cross at Loos in 1915. He died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916). His brother Edward (also an Old Decanian) died 2 months later in the same campaign. This battle alone would claim the lives of 19 ODs. In Michaelmas 2016 we marked 100 years since the battle of the Somme by continuing to recognise the ultimate sacrifice that these ODs made.
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Photographs from Field Day
Some Photographs from Field Day with the Biennial Inspection.
News from the
School
The annual start of year Inter-House Tug-Of-War on Humpty Dumpty
Seven separate Tug-of-War pitches ran a total of over 70 contests on Monday afternoon, generating a huge amount of excitement and even more noise! The cheers could be heard from Dean Close boarding houses, over a mile from the pitch, as the whole Senior School of 500 pupils united to support their House teams. Headmaster, Bradley Salisbury, said “The annual Tug-of-War competition was initiated a few years ago by a group of Bruneian pupils, as it is the national sport of Brunei. I am pleased to see that the tradition has continued, as it is a fantastic team building exercise as well as a lot of fun.” In the U6th matches Tower and Hatherley came away victorious!
On 2nd September 2016, the Dean Close community gathered in Chapel to welcome new Chaplain, Rev’d John Ash, at his Licensing Service by Bishop Rachel.
Ben Price, Housemaster of Dale, was selected for the GB Elite team in the European Long Distance Duathlon Championships, held on the 21st May in St Wendel, Germany.
The race involved a 10km run followed by a 60km bike followed by another 10km run! Ben exceeded all expectations coming in 15th. You can keep up to date with Ben’s running and cycling exploits by following him on Twitter and Instagram: @bpriceduathlon
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News from the Foundation
New Warden
Emma Taylor
The Board of Trustees is delighted to announce the appointment of Mrs Emma Taylor as the next Warden of The Dean Close Foundation, to work with the Heads of each of our schools in support of the pupils in our care. The Warden will lead all the activities of The Dean Close Foundation, including our schools and nurseries as well as our commercial business. The Board selected Emma from a very strong field of applicants, and she takes over from our Interim Warden, Roger Jones, in August 2017. After taking a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and a PGCE at the University of Oxford, Emma taught at Stowe and Canford, and had roles as Housemistress in both schools. In 2001, she came to Dean Close as Admissions Tutor and subsequently became Senior Mistress. She left Dean Close in 2007 to become Head at Christ College, Brecon, where she has had ten successful years. Over that time, she has overseen some major developments in her school, including improved results, increased pupil numbers, new buildings, the opening of a junior school, and the creation of a partnership to establish a school in Malaysia. Emma has two daughters, one at school and one at the University of Bath and she and her husband, Simon, have moved to Cheltenham as she takes up this role.
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DEAN CLOSE ACQUIRES TREE TOPS NURSERY
This acquisition is excellent news for Dean Close, allowing us to offer high quality childcare and preparation for school, extending the scope of the excellent quality of education and care offered under the umbrella of the Dean Close Foundation The Dean Close Foundation is delighted to announce that as of 1st September 2017, Tree Tops Nurseries in both Cheltenham and Gloucester have become part of the Group. This will expand the total number of children’s day nurseries owned by Dean Close to five.
Tree Tops was founded in 1989 by Michelle and Martin Dearman. Their three children Gemma (Mead 2004), James (Dale 2006) and Grace (Shelburne 2013) all attended Dean Close, so the family has had a close relationship with the School for many years. The acquisition is seen as a perfect fit by both parties who share the same ethos and values. Mrs Dearman commented: “Tree Tops is very precious to us but we feel that Dean Close shares our DNA so they are the right people to take over the Nurseries and ensure that they hold our values at its centre in future years. It’s all about putting the children first and never stinting on quality. As former Dean Close parents, we know the School feels exactly the same as us”. Tree Tops has 70 children between the ages of 3 months to 4 years in each Nursery. As part of the Dean Close family,
the children will now benefit from the excellent resources and expertise that the School can offer, such as its 25m indoor swimming pool, sports hall, AstroTurf pitches, chapel and highly skilled professionals in sport, music, drama and education. CEO and Warden of Dean Close Foundation, Emma Taylor, said: “This acquisition is excellent news for Dean Close, allowing us to offer high quality childcare and preparation for school, extending the scope of the excellent quality of education and care offered under the umbrella of the Dean Close Foundation. This further strengthens the financial position of Dean Close and therefore our ability to improve facilities, keep fees manageable and offer the very best to pupils of all ages.” Two years ago the Dean Close Foundation was established when the School acquired a preparatory school and three nurseries in the Chepstow area. After considerable investment and changes in structure, the School and nurseries are all thriving and highly successful.
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David Fullerton has retired from teaching after 24 years at Dean Close ... zut alors!
Dean Close meets the Prime Minister at Cheltenham Science Festival It was with huge surprise that Dean Close pupils from the Prep and Senior Schools greeted the Prime Minister, Theresa May, when she walked up to their activity stand at this year’s Cheltenham Science Festival. Located in the centre of the Discover Zone inside the Town Hall, Mrs May appeared late in the afternoon just a couple of days before the General Election. Accompanied by a swarm of press photographers, the Prime Minster said hello to all the Dean Close team and spent several minutes talking to the children about the Periodic Table bookmarks which were being made at the Dean Close stand.
She seemed thrilled to be given her own bookmark with her name made up of the correct elements. Pupil, Hannah Porter said, “It was really exciting. The Prime Minister was very nice indeed and asked us about the activities we were doing. We all shook hands with her and we had our photograph taken I think we even made it onto Sky News! Today was a fantastic experience which I will remember for a very long time.”
For his retirement present, Mlle Villiers and the Modern Languages teachers thought it would be a nice idea to compile a book of messages entitled ‘Merci Beaucoup’ from his past students and colleagues. ODs did not disappoint with loads of messages coming for Mr Fullerton from throughout the last two and bit decades. Sarah Cavell (Shelburne 1989) wrote: “I would like to thank Mr Fullerton for his belief in me (and a few extra lessons!) 28 years ago that ensured I made it to Oxford and I am now a teacher myself in a French primary school on the other side of the world. Je lui souhaite une tres bonne retraite!!”
Philippa Hall (Shelburne 2015) wrote “Mr Fullerton... the biggest Chelsea fan I think I will ever meet in my life. That bobble head Chelsea dog that sat on your desk in front of me for all my years in French I'm sure will forever stay in my memory. Thank you for all the time you gave to the School, and for everything you did with helping me with my French. I'm sure you will be greatly missed in the classroom, remembered for your fantastic end of term Quiz's, and always remain a key figure when it comes down to house football memories. I wish you all the best for a well-deserved retirement.”
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Opening of Cookery School Just before Christmas, Dean Close held the official opening of the new Cookery School, alongside a Leiths Christmas Canapé Party. Guest of honour was Viv Burroughs, a former teacher, who first introduced the Leiths Basic Certificate in Food and Wine to the School. Around 60 guests arrived to a festively decorated BonBernard Gallery for drinks before going into the new facility for speeches. After a warm introduction from the Headmaster, Viv gave an amusing and emotional talk about her time at the School, recounting some funny memories such as a student who used a blender without a lid and another who threw spaghetti at the wall to check it was cooked! Viv said how incredibly impressed she was with the new facility and how thrilled she was to see Cookery taking such a central role in the School. New Head of Cookery, Maria Taylor, then stepped up to give a heartfelt talk about her love of cookery and how it can bring friends and family together, as well as make a difference to the quality of life. She really showed her passion for cooking and talked about her pride in seeing her students take photos of their food to send home.
After speeches, guests returned to the BonBernard Gallery where they were served a delicious range of canapés that had been prepared by Leiths students during the day. The menu was:
n Yorkshires with caramelised onion, fillet beef and horseradish cream n Endive with fennel, smoked mackerel and orange n Stilton, celery and apple chutney filo cups n Pulled pork bruschetta with smoked tomato ketchup and peppers
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n Miso roasted aubergine with cucumber and mint n Thai chicken with coriander and sweet chilli n Meringues with rose cream, pomegranate and pistachio n Mince pies with orange Grand Marnier mascarpone The event generated lots of positive feedback and praise for the fabulous food and talented cooks. Maria Taylor commented: “It was the perfect event to officially open the new Dean Close Cookery School. Our Upper Sixth students worked so hard all day to make it a really special evening filled with good food and an overwhelming feeling of support for our new department. Their array of stunning canapés stole the show and guests were enthralled with the myriad of tastes and textures in each dainty mouthful. I am bursting with pride
this morning and feel so lucky to have the opportunity to teach such inspirational young people.”
The new cookery school combines a commercial catering facility with a sleek modern demonstration kitchen. There are nine individual, stainless steel kitchen areas each with their own full set of kitchen equipment, oven and hob and double sink.
The sleek marble topped demonstration area can seat up to 16 students and is designed and equipped to allow two chefs to work side by side to create a range of delicious dishes in front of students, combined with an audio visual system to enhance teaching and learning. Entrance hall, changing rooms, prep and storage areas complete this state of the art multi-functional facility.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
News from the Development Office Over the coming months we will be working with Development Consultant James Underhill, who has substantial experience in educational development and communications. With James, we are refining the Foundation’s strategic plans and the Schools’ visions to produce a compelling campaign encompassing three priority areas:
In October 2016 we welcomed Connie Parker (above) to the team as Alumni and Development Assistant. Connie supports the day to day running of the Development and OD Offices and is the first port of call for any database queries, so if your details need updating, please feel free to contact her. We are proud to say that Connie has nearly completed her Level Two Apprenticeship and we are thrilled that she has chosen to continue her studies with us, progressing on to her Level Three. Please do introduce yourself if you see Connie at any of our events.
After three years at Dean Close, we said a fond farewell to Graham Papenfus who has taken up the post of Director of Development and Fundraising at Kingswood School in Bath. We are very grateful for all his work in the Dean Close Development Office and for supporting the Old Decanian Society. We wish him the best of luck in his new role.
Foundation Awards: Increasing the scale of Bursary support that the Schools can offer means more talented and deserving pupils will join us and it will ensure that Dean Close stays grounded and accessible. We will be able to share, with talented and financially-deserving pupils, the excellent opportunities we have to offer. 21st Century Campus: Facilities really matter and the Foundation and Schools recognise the need to continually improve our sites. We need spaces to suit modern teaching, in inspirational surroundings.
Initial works will begin in the Senior School in October to clear the site by the old CCF Parade Square to make way for a new, state of the art, Day House Village. The new striking building will provide light, airy accommodation for all four day houses, each with their own identity and a homely feel and looking out onto an attractive, landscaped quad.
The Day House Village project will be followed by an exciting programme of regeneration and renewal of the Science and Academic facilities at the heart of the Senior School. This will provide us with inspiring places for collaborative and flexible learning.
21st Century Campus:
The new striking building will provide light, airy accommodation for all four day houses plus spaces for Shelburne and Fawley, each with their own identity and a homely feel and looking out onto an attractive, landscaped quad.
Skills for the Future: A new focus on how we equip our pupils to thrive in their lives beyond formal education, to gain employment, fulfilment and to succeed in a world of accelerating change.
We are pleased that Zach Suckle has been appointed the new Head of Careers and with him new in post we are able to review what careers support we are able to offer to current pupils and recent leavers. We are really looking forward to developing this offering, working with the OD and Careers Office, to enhance the opportunities available to our Community. Through our network of Parents, Past Parents and ODs we can access a wealth of experience and bolster the School Community. This is a bold campaign that we hope will capture the imagination of everyone who loves Dean Close. Yes, it is about raising money to fund a programme of exciting developments, but we also hope to encourage you to give in other ways as well, to help our pupils through mentoring or networking, to provide masterclasses and to offer innovate ideas that contribute towards the unknown but exciting futures of our young people. We are so grateful to all of you who have supported previous campaigns and as we look forward to the future, the support of our community will be key. We will be in touch soon with more information. Felicity Copp Development Manager fjcopp@deanclose.org.uk 01242 267439
It is always a pleasure to see new and familiar faces at School, Community and OD events so please do come and say “Hello” next time you are in the area.
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Old Decanian
September 2016
ODGS VS DCS
The School now have their hands on the annual Old Decanians vs DCS golf trophy for the first time in 7 years. The match was played in September at Cotswold Hills Golf Club.
October 2016
Events October 2016
Autumn Meeting 2016 Hardy Trophy
Edward Harris Trophy Royal Porthcawl GC
On Friday 7th October it was time to defend the trophy that we had won the year before. The side, made up of Ian Bevan-Jones (Tower 1972), Mike Harry (Court 1961), Cod Carroll (Gate 1984), Jon Sidebottom (Brook 1997), Graham Papenfus (Former Staff), James Ford (Dale 1980), Alex Hume (Dale 2002) and Julian Rowett (1969), went out to do battle against the opposition. This year the opposition was made up of Brecon, Bromsgrove, Cheltenham College, Hereford Cathedral, Malvern and Wycliffe. Wycliffe took home the trophy with a splendid performance from all of their team. We head to Ross-on-Wye Golf Club for the 2017 competition to be hosted by Hereford. 1st Wycliffe 2nd Malvern 3rd Brecon 1 4th Dean Close 5th Bromsgrove 6th Hereford C.S. 7th Cheltenham 8th Brecon 2
128 points 118 points 111 points 109 points 108 points 105 points 104 points 73 points
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Played once again on the magnificent Red Course at The Berkshire which provides a perfect background for one of the highlight competitions of the ODGS year. Dale Mullins (Court 1977) took home the trophy this year with a solid 35pts, closely followed by Ian Bevan-Jones (Tower 1972) with 32pts and the defending champion Jon Sidebottom (Brook 1997) who came in third with 31pts.
Dean Close Sixes
A Nationwide Girls Alumni Hockey Tournament On Sunday 23 October, the inaugural Dean Close Sixes saw nine really strong teams compete for the Carnill Cup, named in honour of Denys Carnill who passes away in 2016 aged 90.
Denys was a member of staff at Dean Close between 1951 -1984 and represented Great Britain at hockey in three Olympics.
The winners were Bloxham, who beat Rendcomb College in the final by one goal, with both teams playing some superb hockey throughout the pools and semi-finals. Dean Close came third after a 4-0 win over St
Edward’s (Oxford) in the 3rd / 4th playoff. The other teams who competed included King Henry VIII (Coventry), Bromsgrove, Malvern College, Bryanston and Cheltenham College. “It was great to see all the teams enjoy their hockey and the passion that they showed in competing for their school alumni societies was brilliant to see! A really competitive tournament. We look forward to hosting the tournament again on Sunday 22nd October 2017.” Alex Hume.
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Min Kim Exhibition
Min Kim (Shelburne 2007) was back at Dean Close in October for a solo exhibition and Private View in the School’s BonBernard Gallery. Min was the fourth former student to return to the School with a solo exhibition. After leaving Dean Close, Min went on to study at The Slade School of Fine Art and most recently completed her MA at The Royal College of Art. She is currently forging a career as a professional artist working both in the UK and Korea. Her
show, Evolve, is a retrospective exhibition that charts the past 10 years of her practice, from A Level to current day, as she has searched for her own pictorial language. At Dean Close, Min experienced a new way of art education which was different from what she had learnt in Korea, learning the importance of process and creativity. As she progressed through Art College, she drew inspiration from nature, her paintings being dreamy and other-worldly with bright colours and uncanny forms. She then began to focus on pure abstraction, and at the Royal College of Art, Min researched geometric abstract works. Now her pieces are more simplified and modernized with the shapes in the earlier works becoming much smaller. Her work still has the feeling of a spatial or multidimensional world in the relationship of time and space.
Birmingham University Visit
In November the OD Society, along with Mrs Kent and Mr Evans, visited OD Birmingham University Students at The Botanist. George Bence (Field 2012), Oliver Birmingham (Dale 2015), Eleanor Cross (Hatherley 2015), Melanie Ferro (Hatherley 2016), William Foulkes (Brook Court 2013), George Henry (Brook Court 2015), Elise Ireland (Hatherley 2015), Fay Jaffar (Mead 2015), Oliver Kent (Tower 2013 V), Bryan Onwughalu (Tower 2015), Harriet Parker (Hatherley 2015), Rebecca Smith (Shelburne 2012) and Ludwig Wong (Brook Court 2015). If you are a student and think we should be visiting your University, let us know!
Head of Art, Caroline Evans, said: “It was lovely to have Min Kim back in the Art School. Min is an exceptionally talented young artist whose work is as beautiful as it is extraordinary; anyone who views her work cannot help but be impressed. It makes for fascinating viewing”.
November 2016 On Sunday 6th November, Dean Close Fireworks Display went off with a bang when hundreds came along for an evening of fun, food and fantastic fireworks! The Dean Bean catering van was extremely busy selling the ever-popular pumpkin spiced lattes and soup, while the Leiths Cookery pupils spoiled guests with ‘posh’ hotdogs made with local sausages in brioche buns with homemade toppings. For those with a sweeter tooth there was also a popcorn stand, sweet cones and toffee apples. The weather was chilly and crisp, making the conditions perfect for a spectacular pyrotechnic show. Showers of colour filled the skies above the heads of the huge crowd, full of splendid colours with rockets soaring to incredible heights before bursting into
shooting stars. It was truly impressive with lots of wows from the gathering below. Pupils, parents, staff and local residents all loved the show and it was great to see the community having so much fun together.
Spectators claimed that the display rivalled that of Disneyland, and an Old Decanian, Patrick House (Gate 1948), who came with his wife Bryony said, “How lovely to be back at Dean Close. Seeing the old building lit up by the fireworks was such a treat”.
Pupils from the Pre-prep right through to the Sixth Form arrived back to School after the half term break, excited to spend an autumnal evening with their friends and families. What a lovely way to return to School.
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November 2016
December 2016
Chapel Choir sing Evensong at St Paul’s
Fiddler on the Roof Gala Evening The Dean Close Chapel Choir had the privilege of singing Evensong at St Paul's Cathedral on the 28th November. All ODs were invited to attend and those who did had a real treat. The Evensong was followed by a London Social at the Happenstance (Ludgate Hill).
A landmark anniversary performance was held in The Bacon Theatre, celebrating 25 years of having this wonderful facility. The performance was attended by Jill Bacon, the widow of former Headmaster Christopher Bacon, after whom the Bacon Theatre is named. Their daughters, Tamsin Martle (Mead 1988) and Philippa Forsyth and other members of the Bacon family attended, as well as many doners to the theatre’s construction in 1991.
February 2017 Professor Timothy Bliss FRS (Gate 1958) gave a Whole School Lecture based around The Brain & Memory in the Bacon Theatre on Thursday 2nd February. Professor Bliss was one of the winners of the 2016 Brain Prize, awarded for his outstanding contribution to neuroscience. It was great to see ODs join us from all over the country to listen to the lecture.
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March 2017
London Social
Clay Pigeon Shooting
The second Close Community Clay Pigeon Shoot took place earlier this year at Ian Coley Sporting, Cheltenham. ODs, current & past parents and Dean Close Staff, enjoyed a morning of Clay Pigeon Shooting and tuition followed by prize giving and lunch.
In March Mrs Kent, Mr Evans and the Development Team hosted a London Social at The Ship in Wandsworth, London after supporting the School’s U18 team at Rosslyn Park. This London Social is always a popular and well-attended event.
Oxford Universities Meet Up
The OD Society, along with Mr Evans, Mrs Kent, Mrs Milne and Helen Gregory (ODS Committee), went to Oxford to take out those ODs that are studying at the Oxford Universities. We had a brilliant evening in All Bar One and it was great to catch up with everyone, seeing how university was treating them and what plans they were starting to concoct for after university. Those that came included…
Hugo Hunton (Gate 1991) won the shoot and his group were the winning team which included Mark Philip Sorensen (Field 1991) Alistair Negus (Gate 1991), Dominic Makin (Court 1991), Charles Griffiths (Brook 1991), Andrew Troughton (Field 1991), Jan Heuff (Field 1991) and Tim Widdowson (Gate 1991). Keep an eye out for next year’s event in March 2018!
Patrick Bunker (Dale 2016), Joe Morford (Dale 2016), Lucy Eden (Hatherley 2015), Maya Huth (Mead 2015), Charlotte Neil (Shelburne 2015), Robert Menzies-Wilson (Dale 2014), Dan Hilltout (Dale 2014), Ellie Williams (Hatherley 2013) and Zoe Firth (Mead/Hatherley 2014).
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May 2017 The Close Community Golf Day held at Minchinhampton Golf Club on Friday 19th May was a fantastic day as 30+ current parents, former parents, ODs and former members of Common Room set out to win the Odell Cup. Congratulations to all the winners and to Hank Cownie (Brook 1951) who at the age of 84 took home not one but two trophies with 46 pts, owing to the Old Decanians playing at the Close Community Day also playing for the President’s Cup which had to be rolled over from the raincancelled Spring Meeting. Odell Trophy: Hank Cownie (Brook 1951) Presidents Cup (ODs only): Hank Cownie (Brook 1951) Longest Drive Men’s: Andrew Odell (Field 1992) Longest Drive Women’s: Lisa Lineham (Past Parent) Nearest the pin: Margot Petkovic (Past Parent) Team Prize: Andrew Hume (Past Parent), Don D’Ambrosio (Past Parent), Barry Chaplain (Past Parent) and Hank Cownie (Brook 1951)
Close Community Golf Day
Class of 1997 Reunion at Commemoration
On a blowy Commem, it was the turn of the Class of 1997 to have their ‘20 years on’ reunion. We just about managed to have our picnics on Big Field whilst dodging a few rain showers, whilst the children played on the bouncy castles.
After the reunion, a large group continued with dinner at Zizzi's and then more fun at a pub nearby. The next big reunion will hopefully be in 5 years’ time! Thanks to Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) who did the majority of the organising despite living in Pennsylvania.
Nicholas Ball (Dale), Nick Burne (Tower), Bizzy Cook (nee Senior) (Shelburne), Rachel Dann (nee Rank) (Fawley), Caroline Elliot (nee Henley) (Mead), Andrew Fairclough (Brook), Samuel Gilbert (Dale), Sophie Hamilton (nee Worthington) (Mead), Melissa Heather (nee Furno) (Mead), Mary-Ann Johnson (nee
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June 2017
Class of 2001 Reunion
Davies) (Mead), Holly Kilminster (Mead), Amy Keyter (nee Tucker Brown) (Fawley), Joanna Lewis (Fawley), Kirsten McTernan (nee Spalholz) (Shelburne), James Mears (Brook), Linsay Saunders (nee Bell) (Mead), Ruth Seymour (nee Bayston) (Mead), Jon Sidebottom (Brook), Magdalena Vaernesbranden (nee Rydland) (Shelburne), Felix Von Keyserlingk (Gate), Joanna Wheeler (nee Massey) (Mead) and Natalie Woolmer (nee Smith) (Shelburne).
Grafton Morrish – The National Public School Boys Alumni Championships
The Class of 2001 had their 16th (!) year reunion at Dean Close this June. It was great to have ODs join us from all over the country and the world including New Zealand and Dubai… Well done Melissa Hartley and Georgina Harrington! We started off with picnics (in the Dining Hall because of the unpredictable weather conditions that morning – Great British Summer!) for the ODs and their families, followed by tours of the School and the afternoon session was closed off with tea, cake and archive displays. Partners and families then went to their hotels / home for a well earned rest whilst the Class of 2001 got ready for the evening reception and dinner at Dean Close House.
Thanks to David Stark, Mary Taylor (nee Roast), Victoria Pearce (nee Rodwell) and James Robinson for pulling it all together and making it happen. Those that came to the day included… Caroline Abbott (Shelburne), Clive Bailey (Field),
Nida Batchelder (Fawley), Amy Belisario (Mead), George Boyd (Dale), Tim Brown (Dale), Gavin Curry (Tower), Daniel Emberson (Tower), Emily Gegg (Fawley), Laura Hanks (Mead), Georgina Harrington (Mead), Melissa Hartley (Fawley), Jennifer Hogg (nee Harvey) (Shelburne), Nick Jones (Tower), Holly Kilminster (Mead), Victoria Pearce (nee Rodwell) (Mead), Georgina Petrie (Fawley), Lucy Petrie (nee Johnson) (Fawley), Jessica Porter (nee Hammond) (Fawley), Tegan Preston (nee Faulkner) (Shelburne), Emma Ramsay (Mead), James Robinson (Dale), Andrew Settatree (Court), Carly Sage (nee Anscombe) (Mead), David Stark (Field), Emily Sutton (nee Nicol) (Mead), Mary Taylor (nee Roast) (Mead), James Unwin-Smith (Dale), Amy Verey (Shelburne), Harriet Warner (nee Williams) (Shelburne), Jessica Whitehead (Fawley), Belinda Whittingham (Fawley), Lizzie Woolnough (nee Hirst) (Fawley).
A massive congratulations to Joe Jenkins (Capt), Nigel Newport-Black, Jon Sidebottom, Ryan Brignull, Ian Bevan-Jones and Ali Smith who all played in the Grafton Morrish qualifiers at Denham in May and once again got the Old Decanian Society into finals, which will be held at the end of September at Hunstanton GC and Royal West Norfolk GC. We will let you know how they get on!
www.graftonmorris.org.uk or Twitter @graftonmorrish
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The inaugural Old Decanian Day at Dean Close OD Day now plays host to all the OD fixtures except the Cricket which still takes place at Commem. Along with the sports fixtures there was a BBQ lunch for all, activities for children, reunions, tours of the School, the ODS AGM and dinner.
Chris Hillman
RFT
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BKW
Paul Denley
OD Hockey
OD Girls (0) vs DCS XI (7) Team: Judy Richards (Capt.), Natalie Kroder, Lowri Evans, Emma Goldsmith, Hattie Parker, Rhianna Evans, Rosie Abbott, Amelia Andrew, Lucy Keyworth, Amy Porter, Charlotte Williams, Ayako Nina and Saffron Greenwood.
OD Boys (2) vs DCS XI (3) Team: Mike Strachan, Rich Baker, Charlie Hunte, George Bence, Ben Whitford, Jonny Cahill, Oli Taylor, Archie Nicholls, Ed Hunt, Wes Howell, Ollie Cahill, Adrian Street (GK), Harry Caro, Hugh Philips and Liam Brignull.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Hockey Club
If you would like to play, whether you already play, haven’t played for a long time or have never played, everyone is welcome to join the School Hockey Club.Old Decanians, Current and Past Parents take part and everyone is welcome to come along and have a go. Coffee is served in the Dining Hall after practice every Saturday morning and there are plenty of opportunities to socialise, culminating in an end of season event. Matches are fun and competitive with rivals including Common Room staff, parents from other schools and even the teams’ own children.
OD Netball
OD Netball vs The School. Mrs Richard, Acting Head of Netball said, “The netball was great, some lovely skills on show! The final score was 33-15 to the School. Although, it was a lot tighter than the score line suggests!”. The OD Team: Rosie Abbott (2014), Amelia Andrew (2014), Rhianna Evans (2014), Addie Hollows (2014), Hattie Parker (2015), Charlotte Williams (2015), Amy Porter (2016) and Stef Philips (2016).
OD Tennis
Class of 1992 Reunion on OD Day Front row, left to right: Frances Bennett (nee Alberry) (Fawley), Pete Deane (Tower), Jo Simmons (Fawley), Merial Reeve (Fawley), Alex Fitzgerald (Brook Court), Joanna Hart (nee Edmonds) (Fawley), Becky Ash (nee Beamish) (Shelburne), Sarah Kerny (Fawley), Mary Lawrence (nee Grant), Caroline Clews (Shelburne), Clare Pritchard (nee Aldred) (Fawley). Back row, left to right: Dave Pihlens (Brook), Mel Stone (nee Bird) (Shelburne), Richard Harrison (Dale), Chris Hillman (Field), Steffen Goelkel (Tower), Kate Dossett (nee Gower) (Shelburne), Andrew Smith (Gate).
The two on the middle right are Emma Mercer (nee Pearson) (Mead) and Lynette Huntley (Shelburne).
Judy Richards (2016), Elsa Pool (2016), Bella Acland (2016), Hugh Philips (2013), Greg Hall (2013), Frances Bennet (nee Allberry) (1992), John Hinchliff (1979), Bill Wickham (1979), Rod Leefe (1979) and Craig Scott (1979).
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July 2017
Cricket Report by Jeremy Winter (ODCC Hon. Secretary)
Cricket at Commemoration: KNIGHTLEY’S 98 not out, all in vain!
The Spa Trophy ODs vs Old Cheltonians
- We did it again! The ODs hold on to the trophy for the 9th year in a row! The side of Ali Smith, Jon Sidebottom, Julian Rowett, Robert Reed, Ryan Brignull, James Ford and Will Odell, under the captaincy of Nigel NewportBlack, managed to win the trophy for another year with a score of 3-1. This year the match took place on the ODs’ home course at The Berkshire on the Blue Course. Embarrassingly, we went down with the trophy already engraved with the ODs as the winners, as the engravers had decided to skip a year and name the ODs the winners for a match that had not yet taken place!
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A 30 overs’ game at Commemoration saw some experienced ODs in action. Ollie Horne (63), James Humphries (44) and School skipper Sam Norwood (38) set up a very good foundation for the School’s total of 181-4. In reply the ODs within 3 overs were 3-3 with Charlie Hunte, Tom Warren and Mike Salmon back in the Pavilion! In strode Charlie Knightley, an experienced class player and a combination of himself Gregor Lovatt and skipper Sam Wheatley set about trying to write the semi-sunken ship. A spectacular innings of 98 not out from OD and Felsted School’s Master in Charge of Cricket, Charlie Knightley, dominated, taking most of the strike, but in the end an early hiccup proved fatal to the OD side and the task was just too great. Time ran out and the OD side fell 22 runs short.
Knife Edge Finishes for OD Cricketers during Cricket Week Thursday 13th June
Alternative commitments for many regular OD cricketers led to a decision in good time to shorten the number of fixtures in the Cricket Week to just two. But what excellent, exciting, well-contested matches they proved to be. Dumbleton batted first at their lovely Dairy Lane ground and lost opener Baldwin early, bowled by Sam Wheatley. An onslaught on the bowling by Aussie Cranitch followed and his five sixes and three fours shot his innings to 50 before Oli Horne had him stumped by Phil Nicholson. Veteran John Weaver got amongst the middle order in his four overs sending four back to the pavilion, conceding just 23 runs and, with Chris Townsend at the other end 212, restricted the home side to 156-9 in their 20 overs. The OD reply had a couple of early disappointments, losing Mark Whitney and Townsend to Loveday. Young Oli Horne then had two key stands: firstly 40 with Sam Wheatley and then 43 with Matt Court. On 49, Oli fancied the deep mid-wicket boundary but his fine hit was caught well by Tegg right on the line. A couple of quieter overs followed, plus the loss cheaply of young Archie Benson. This brought Stuart Hughes together with skipper John Nicholson still needing 39 to win in four overs. Despite a string of boundaries and frantic running between the wickets, it still left 22 to win in the last over. A new bowler Tegg was called from the deep and the OD pair took full advantage, hammering 18 off the first five balls, leaving four to win off the last ball…a swing, a miss, byes… three were run… but a tie was denied with Nicholson being called for a ‘one short’! The result therefore was a Dumbleton win by one run! Stuart Hughes finishing with a superb unbeaten 19 off 9 deliveries and Nicholson 13.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Friday 14th June A strong squad of ODs assembled for the Friday match v the Gloucestershire Gipsies giving skipper Matt Shayle a number of options. Oli Horne and Sam Wheatley restricted the visitors to 17 off the first 10 overs but then the run rate gradually increased to 75 off the first 20 with still no breakthrough. The score got to 137 before John Weaver had Sadler well caught by Matt Court. Cheltenham Town 1st XI top batsman, Kieran Smith, was then joined by another of his Saturday teammates, Pete Woodland. By now Smith was in full flow reaching an impressive century prior to Matt Court having him well caught in the deep by Oli Horne on the stroke of lunch. Shayle gave all his bowlers a go, nine in all, although it was he who bagged most wickets, 2 for 24 from his four overs. Under bowled
perhaps were Horne 6-4-5-0, Wheatley 8-1-35-0 and Court 6-0-43-1, but the Gipsies very fair declaration came at 250-5 after 42 overs. George Lane and Luca Cappuccini opened the ODs reply, with Lane striking the ball with authority in classic style and Luca hitting the off line ball well. They gave the innings a fine start before the latter went for 20. Like the day before, Sam Wheatley was in good form, giving Lane good support and they had a fine stand of 75 before both fell within a spell of a few minutes, Wheatley for 37 and Lane for a superb 66. Matt Court with 35 and Oli Cahill 32 strengthened the middle order and with the score at 215-6 and five overs to go in the last hour, all results looked on. The Gipsies kept the spinners on to the death and they teased out Molyneaux and Paul Marchand
cheaply but then, with Stuart Hughes managing to retain most of the strike and hitting out very effectively, just 13 were required in the last two overs. Alex Hume got in a tangle and was bowled by off spinner Woodland bringing last man Shayle in….Final over, 10 to win. First ball from Kieran Smith and Hughes slams it for a six over the pavilion, but two dot balls followed and then a bye run. Three to win off the last two balls, Matt Shayle was trapped LBW giving the Gipsies a two run win! Thus the Doctor’s Trophy remains in their hands for another year. Courtesy of the Old Decanian Society and the Development Team, the School’s caterers provided a magnificent postmatch barbecue for both sides, ODs, former staff and friends of the School. Grateful thanks also to Rupert Lane, President of the ODCC, who stood all the players their first drink.
Francis Bacon in Montpellier
The Pompidou Center in Paris celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. To celebrate they are sending some of their modern art on a tour of the regions of France. The Musée Fabre in Montpellier as part of this will host a joint exhibition of works by the late Francis Bacon (Brook 1924) and Bruce Nauman 1st July - 5th November 2017.
In 2013 at Christie’s Auction House in New York, one of Bacon’s paintings, ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ (pictured), sold for $145m which at the time was the most expensive painting ever purchased at auction.
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2017
Obituaries April 2005 Brigadier Douglas Alexander PRINGLE OBE. The eldest son of Major Alexander Pringle, formerly of the Indian Army and the Egyptian Police, Douglas was born in 1912. He was educated at Dean Close School, where he excelled at crosscountry running. He entered RMA Woolwich in 1930, and was commissioned to Royal Signals in 1932, having gained his colours for athletics, swimming, and modern pentathlon. After training in Catterick, he was posted to 4th Division Signals Regiment, serving initially in Colchester, and subsequently in Canterbury.
An exceptionally fit young officer, he ran successfully for the Three Services Milocarian Athletic Club, competing in the British Games at White City in 1936. That year he was selected as a member of the British Olympic Team for Modern Pentathlon at Hitler’s Berlin Olympic Games. His early life revolved round the horse drawn cable wagon, horses in general, hunting and athletics. In 1936, Douglas was posted to India, where he joined 2nd Cavalry Signals Brigade Signal Troop in Sialkot, completing the demanding Indian Cavalry School course at Saugor, qualifying in the top grade. He became proficient in polo, pig sticking, and show jumping. At the outbreak of WWII, he was Adjt, 5 Indian Division Signals Regiment, and went with them to the Middle East, seeing service in Eritrea and North Africa. He returned to India in 1941 (by which time he was a Temporary Major and 2nd in Command of the Regiment) to study at Staff College, Quetta. The journey was in an RAAF Sunderland flying boat, taking off from the Nile at Cairo and refuelling in the Dead Sea, Lake Habbaniya (West of Baghdad) and Basrah, en route to Karachi.
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Returning to 5 Indian Division in a similar manner, he was summoned by Major General Penney, SO-in-C Middle East, to be informed that he was to be Lt Col, at the age of 29, jumping the rank of Maj entirely. He was to be the first Royal Signals instructor at the ME Staff College in Haifa, spending just over a year there. He spent a short period as GSO1 Ops at HQ Palestine and Trans Jordan in 1943, where his focus was primarily on the defensive requirements against a possible German invasion from the north via the Caucasus. One of the tasks was the layout of a defensive line along the Carmel Range, from Haifa to Jenin, and back to Jericho. This was to be the second line of defence, the first being in the mountains of Syria and the Lebanon. At the end of 1943, he was recalled to India for parachute training, and to raise the new 44th Indian Division Signals Regiment. The war ended shortly before the Division was due to drop, either on Bangkok or on the Causeway at Singapore. He commanded the Regt until 1946, when he returned to the Airborne Training Establishment in Salisbury and Aldershot. By the end of 1946, he was back in Palestine, this time commanding 6th Airborne Div Sig Regt, where he was twice mentioned in Dispatches for gallantry. He returned from Palestine with his Regt in 1948 to Perham down Camp, Tidworth, for the subsequent disbandment of 6th AB Div. This led to the reduction of the AB Sig Regt to form an Independent Para Bde Sig Sqn, later numbered 16 Indep Para Bde Sig Sqn, the ‘1’ and the ‘6’ coming from the two famous (wartime) Divs. He remained a keen supporter of Airborne Signals, regularly attending the Annual Dinner. He regarded the AB Signals as the elite of the Corps, with a spirit and style that made them worthy successors to the horsed Cavalry Bde Sig Units of early years. From 1949 to 1953, he was Comd Victory College, RMA Sandhurst, as a brevet Lt Col. He went on to become AQMG, GHQ East Africa Comd, 1953-1956, in Nairobi, where he was awarded the OBE for service during the Mau Mau Uprising. After a year in UK Land Forces, working on the formative stage of Civil Defence planning in the nuclear age, he was promoted Colonel, and became GSO1 Signals 5, at the War Office. In this appointment, his work was of considerable importance in planning the
structure of the Corps in the newly emerging all Regular Army. He was promoted Brig in 1958, and became GSO GHQ Middle East in Cyprus, from 1958 to 1961, during the EOKA campaign. After further brief service in 1962 as CSO Northern Comd in York, his final appointment was Comd British Bde and Garrison, Hong Kong. He retired in 1965, his all-round experience having been of great assistance to his Corps.
From 1966 to 1974, he was Bursar of the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover. In addition to the traditional responsibilities of Bursar, he took enormous interest in the boys’ military affairs, advising and assisting those who wished to join the Army. He also stage-managed the schools’ annual Trooping the Colour Parade in a manner that would have done credit to Horse Guards. He was an enthusiastic military historian and member of military societies till the end of his life. Douglas, together with his brother, Maj RC (Colin) Pringle, a R Signals officer who served with the Chindits in Burma and 6 AB Div Sig Regt in Palestine, was the third generation of Army officers in his family. Douglas Pringle was a man of strong personality, strong views, and sincere convictions. Modest, private and self-deprecating, he had no time for self-seekers or for those that did not pull their full weight. He always fought, without fear, for what he believed to be the rights of those who worked for him, even when it was plainly contrary to his own interests. He never feared to speak up. He had no time for eyewash, and with impeccable personal standards of turnout, he always insisted that, “no technician was any better for wearing long hair or a grubby hat”. Douglas died on 18th April 2005, aged 93. In 1940, he married Wendy Gordon, daughter of Col RE Gordon MC, RE. It was an exceptionally happy marriage. Wendy predeceased him by six months, and his younger son by two years. He is survived by his daughter, and his elder son, who followed him into the Army and was commissioned into the Royal Green Jackets in 1966. (Extracts from The Wire, & The Journal (RSI), 2006, author(s) unknown. Edited by Richard Hamilton, 2012).
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
February 2016 Richard Duncan COOK (Gate 1949) came to Dean Close School in September 1944, aged 13 under the Headmastership of Hugh Elder then A. N. (Tony) Gilkes from 1946. RDC’s Housemaster during his time at the School was the legendary Rev’d E. Victor Tanner, himself an OD, who had won the Military Cross twice in World War I, not easy for a clergyman to do. Victor Tanner was devoted to ‘his’ boys in Gate House although he was both School Chaplain and Librarian.
November 2015
Christopher James RIGBY (Court 1961) passed away on the 7th
November 2015 aged 71. A service to celebrate his life was held on the
26th November 2015 at the Norcliffe Chapel, Styal near Manchester. Chris was in Court House between 1957 1961 and was appointed a House
Prefect in his final year. In his time at School he achieved a great deal,
especially on the sports field. He
gained his house rugby colours in
1959, his school running colours in
1961 as well as his Cricket Colours in the same year.
Chris was especially good at long
distance running coming 4th in the
School cross-country race and 11th overall in a run versus Cheltenham
College, in his final year he was made Captain of Cross Country. On the cricket side he was known for his
bowling. After School he worked his
way up eventually becoming a Partner of a Property Management firm and was a Member of the Chartered
Auctioneers Estate Agents Institute.
Chris lived in Cheadle in Manchester with his wife Mrs E. Rigby.
RDC appears in a photograph in the 1945 edition of the Gate House magazine, The Martian. It would seem to be the only time that he appeared in a School play. On this occasion he was a non-speaking attendant/ server, clad in cassock and surplice, to a boy playing the part of a bishop in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, produced in the outdoor Tuckwell Theatre. The same year, The Martian reports on a House Hockey side that won the Junior Inter-House title for the first time in years and of whom RDC was a part. The correspondent remarks on the two backs, observing that they were ‘…good, Cook providing the solidity and Bennett the dash…’. He also made it into the House Junior Cricket side too that year. In his four innings for the House he managed 16 on one occasion, totalled 26 runs thereby achieving an average of 6.5 runs per innings. RDC’s name is mentioned in the 1946 Decanian, the School Magazine, for two
June 2016 Robert Louis BARCILON (Brook 1952) was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 17th March 1934. He attended Dean Close School where he developed a keen interest in aviation. In 1952 he joined the Royal Air Force and after successful completion of training, he was posted to his first Squadron, 111, flying the iconic Hawker Hunter. In his first year he was involved in the Suez Campaign and on their return to the UK 111 Sqn became the RAF Display Team flying beautifully painted black Hunters and calling themselves “The Black Arrows” – a name that would become synonymous with display flying and who would subsequently pave the way for the world famous Red Arrows. After 2 years of flying displays, Robert was lucky enough to find himself in the front row of the largest formation ever to perform a loop, 22 aircraft in close formation, looping every day at the Farnborough air show in 1958 – a record that still stands today. A subsequent tour on 2 Sqn in Germany flying Supermarine Swifts was followed by 3 years as
reasons. First, he passed his School Certificate – very roughly equivalent to today’s GCSE – and secondly he was confirmed with 31 other boys on 24th March 1946 by the then Lord Bishop of Gloucester, Dr C. S. Woodward, MC, DD. In the Michaelmas Term of 1946, RDC was in the Gate House Senior 15-a-side Inter-House Rugby Cup team. To begin with, things went well. He even scored an ‘opportunist’ try against Tower House. In the following match, against Brook House, ‘…after playing a hard game’, he broke his collar-bone in the dying moments of the match. Consequently, he didn’t play in the final but no doubt he was gratified to see that the House won the Cup. In the following two years he continued to contribute to sport. He became an opening batsman for his House although in his final cricket season (1948) he did not score more than 5 runs in any innings. He was in the School 2nd Hockey XI and gained XXII colours, i.e. Second XI Colours. He was also captain of Gate House Hockey XI. He also gained House Colours for Rugby and for Cricket. There are group/team photos that include him in The Martian. However, there was more to RDC in his time at Dean Close School than his contribution to Sport. He was a full School Prefect before he left, and as such was Deputy Head of Gate. He was a part of the School JTC (CCF) and was eventually promoted Sergeant. He was co-editor of The Martian in his final year, Hon. Secretary of the Science Society and also of the Metal Workshop Club.
an instructor at the Officer Cadet Training School on the Isle of Man and 2 years as the Borneo Campaign Brigade Support Officer. After completing RAF Staff College in 1966, Robert was promoted to Squadron Leader and posted to RAF Gutersloh in Germany and to the aircraft with which he will always be associated – the English Electric Lightning. He completed a tour as a Flight Commander on 19 Squadron patrolling the skies of West Germany before returning 3 years later as the Squadron “Boss” – a period of his life of which he was enormously proud. He was a brilliant leader and an excellent man – manager. He was intensely loyal to those who worked for him seeming to care more for them than for his own career. He was deservedly awarded the Air Force Cross at the end of his time in Germany. In 1979 at the height of the Cold War, he was posted to Stockholm in Sweden as the Defence and Air Attaché. Promoted to Group Captain, he returned to the UK in 1982 to take command of the only remaining Lightning Station, RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire.
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Dr Thomas ‘Tom’ Wynter BACKHOUSE Dr Thomas ‘Tom’ Wynter BACKHOUSE (Brook 1940) was born in Horwich, Lancashire, the only son of Canon Thomas Backhouse, vicar of St Catherine’s Church, and Mary, nee Wynter or Winter. Along with many other sons of the clergy, his parents chose Dean Close School (where he was a prefect and excelled at sports, especially cricket and hockey) and was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps into the ministry. However, after his ordinary certificate exams in the Classics he decided that he wanted a career in medicine, so there was some rapid catching up required in the sciences. Although the School was evacuated to Monkton Combe during the early years of the war, Tom did well enough in his exams to earn a place to read Natural Sciences at Queens’ College, Cambridge, in 1940. In due course he moved to the Middlesex Hospital in central London to pursue Clinical Studies. While there he worked on hospital trains from the south coast and undertook fire spotting duties, during air raids, from the nurses’ home roof. This required the junior doctors to pass through the underground passages to the nurses’ home while the nurses, in their night attire, passed the opposite way: a challenge for the matrons! At university, Tom continued with sports. While at school he had played for the AFA Public Schools XI, earning a write-up: “Although a head shorter than the Whalley Range centre forward, and easily brushed aside, [he] came again and again into the thick of the fray, like a wasp at a picnic”. At Queens’, hockey was his main game, and in addition to college colours he earned a full blue in 1942. In London, later, he played for Southgate Hockey Club. His medical supervisor had suggested that he needed to choose between playing hockey every Saturday (an England trial was at stake) and studying if he wanted to pass his exams.
In the later stages of his training, so the story goes, a senior surgeon suggested that his junior, Tom, take the theatre sister Margaret, out for a date. With the help of a colleague’s sports car for trysts in Hyde Park, and wartime price limited dinners in Greek Street, the bonds of a lifetime were cemented and the two married in February 1949. In an adventurous spirit they went to a ski resort in Norway for their honeymoon. After his initial medical training Tom held posts as a casualty officer and resident pathologist, followed by further professional exams. He then joined the Royal Air Force for national service as a doctor, rising to squadron leader. He eventually decided to specialise in the rapidly developing area of radiotherapy, spurred on by the surfeit of young surgeons leaving the armed forces at the end of the war.
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As head of department his leadership inspired great loyalty and he created a departmental atmosphere that was consistently happy, friendly, and ever positive. All staff members were treated with equal courtesy and their opinions were always welcomed and respected.
Thank you to David Backhouse (Thomas’s son) who sent in this picture of a DCS rugby team circa late 1930s. Thomas is seated in the front row second from right. Tom started his radiotherapy training under Professor Sir Brian Windeyer and Sir Stanford Cade. At this time he was heavily involved in the early use of the first cobalt machine in the country, at Mount Vernon Hospital. Oncologists from across the UK would visit the Saturday morning clinics he helped run, to see the results and treatment reactions of this new, and at the time very exciting, therapy. In August 1957 he obtained his first consultant post at the Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital in Coventry on a salary of £2200 per year. The family moved from Ruislip to Kenilworth, with a fourth child arriving a year later, which brought the total to four boys.
Tom became head of department and oversaw the development of a brand new cancer treatment facility at the new Coventry hospital at Walsgrave in 1970. He served on the management team of the Coventry hospitals during the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS. This was a time of rapid change in his specialty as new treatments became available and the specialism became oncology rather than radiotherapy. As early as 1963 Tom started to report on the first British use of a new cytotoxic agent in the treatment of Hodgkin’s disease through journals such as The Lancet, The BMJ, and Clinical Radiology. Tom’s national standing grew and in 1973-74 he served as President of the Radiology section of the Royal Society of Medicine. Most importantly he helped steer the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) through these challenging times and was elected Vice President (radiotherapy and oncology) from 1980 to 1982. During his career Tom also received a national gold merit award, chaired the Radiotherapy Visiting Society, and served as an examiner for the College of Radiographers and for fellowships of the RCR, to which only two oncologists were elected each year.
However, the outlook for some patients remained difficult, and there was an increasing need to support patients and families during the later stages of cancer. In 1979 Tom and the then Bishop of Coventry, with others, launched a fundraising campaign and in 1984 they opened the Myton Hospice in Warwick in a converted children’s home. No doubt many patients and relatives in the area remember Tom for his humane care and attention at very difficult times. As though this were not enough he also became involved in the parents’ association for Warwick School, attended by all four sons and he was a governor of the school from 1981 to 1983. He battled to improve the facilities for boarders at the school. Other local organisations benefited from his patient and considerate membership. After retiring in 1987 Tom enjoyed having more time for travelling and relaxing. However he still wanted to improve the service for cancer patients at the Walsgrave hospital in Coventry.
In the late 1970s the funding for the new cancer treatment centre had used up the available funds before the accompanying ward could be constructed. So he helped set up the cancer ward appeal, where his vision, experience, energy, and enormously wide circle of contacts were invaluable: £1.9 million was raised in 19 months and, remarkably, the ward was completed in 1989.
Tom was one of a group of four Queens’ men who kept regular meetings together, with spouses, as long as they could. With the “walkers” he explored south Warwickshire, taking in pubs that served Hook Norton beer, where possible. But, as an antidote to relaxation, children with families descended on the house at short notice, or indeed no notice, as a temporary abode, and grandchildren based themselves “with Granny and Grandpa” while working or studying in the area. In 2006 the local Rotary Club nominated Tom “citizen of the year” of Kenilworth. Tom Backhouse died on the 1st July 2016 and leaves Margaret, his wife of 67 years; four sons; 11 grandchildren; and six great grandchildren. Printed with the kind permission of the British Medical Journal.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
May 2016 Frederick Brian COLLINS (Gate 1948) passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by his family, on 1st May 2016, aged 85. His funeral was held in Cheltenham on the 20th May. Fred lived in Prestbury with his wife Mary and was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. Fred joined the School in 1944 along with his brother John Anthony Collins and both were in Gate House. John left in 1946 and Fred followed in 1948. He helped Gate win the House Hockey in 1948 as well as gaining his Hockey and Rugby School Colours that same year. He was also a handy swing bowler and played for the 1st XI cricket team and later OD cricket sides. Both Fred and his brother remained in contact with the School and OD Society for many years. July 2016 Dr Victor Percy WHITTAKER (Walton Court 1937) died aged 97 on the 5th July 2016 in Cambridge after a short illness. Doctor Whittaker was born on the 11th June 1919 in Ainsdale, England. He was educated at Dean Close School between 1932–1937, boarding in Court House and in his final year becoming a House Prefect. At Speech Day he won both the Charles & Elizabeth and the Flecker Price for Science, leaving Dean Close with a Higher Certificate and an ‘A’ Certificate. He was also prominent in the OTC in his time at School, where he achieved the rank of Corporal.
Exhibitioner and read Biochemistry (MA DPhil). He was a Fellow of Wolfson College; Chief Research Scientist & Director of Neurochemistry Department, New York State Institute for Basic Research in Mental Retardation; Assistant Professor in Physiology, Cincinnati University, USA 1967–72; Deputy Head of the Max Plank Institute; Director of Scientific Research Max Plank Institute, Gottingen, Germany; awarded American Philosophical Society’s Carl Spencer Lashley Award for his contribution to Neurobiology 1978.
Dr Iain Findlay Charles Stuart CLAYRE (Brook 1951) passed away peacefully at home on the 20th July 2016 after a short battle with Leukaemia. He is remembered by his three children, Philippa, Alasdair and Jeremy, grandson Teymour and many Danish cousins. Dr Clayre, a Civil Engineer, went to Edmonton to head the commissioning of the new University of Alberta Hospital in 1982 and stayed on to help upgrade the provision of health services throughout Alberta, before founding his own company, CMG Engineering Services. Born in Southampton, England on the 15th August 1933, Iain was the second of three sons to Doctor John Clayre and mother Doris.
language and later returned to Borneo with his wife, Dr Beatrice Clayre to live in remote Long Banga with the Bible Society, translating the scriptures into the hitherto unwritten Sa’ban language. Here he also flew the mission plane - flying small planes, hang-gliders and microlights would be another lifelong passion. His language work led him to complete a PhD in Linguistics at Edinburgh University in 1972, before his return to Engineering. Iain worked all over the world as an Engineer but never lost his fascination for languages or sailing, and his faith was steadfast to the end. A man of tireless energy and ingenuity, a witty raconteur, Iain lived a full life to its fullest.
After leaving Dean Close he went on to study at Brasenose College, Oxford as a Hulme
After spending 11 years at Dean Close he went on to Queens’ College, Cambridge. He always loved the water and kept a sailing boat in Victoria. Reading Engineering at Cambridge, he excelled at rowing, winning the Ladies’ Plate at Henley Royal Regatta in 1955 and sat in the Stroke seat in the victorious 1957 Cambridge crew against Oxford. He served in Malaya during the Emergency of the 1950s, learnt the
Victor was best known as the British Biochemist who pioneered studies on the subcellular fractionation of the brain. He did this by isolating synaptosomes and synaptic vesicles from the mammalian brain and demonstrating that synaptic vesicles store the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Always eager to share his knowledge, he taught many to windsurf and sail, lent his eloquent bass voice to amateur dramatics, debated on broad topics, dabbled with the flute and bagpipes, and contributed to services at Lendrum Mennonite Brethren Church, where he will be missed. His brother David’s obituary is on page 47.
Laura RICHARDSON, who was PA to the Senior Management Team at Dean Close, passed away on the 25th July 2016, aged 52. Laura was diagnosed with bowel cancer in July of 2015. A Thanksgiving Service was held in Dean Close Chapel on the 16th August. At this service a poem was read by former Dean Close English Teacher Chris Haslam, Bradley Salisbury (DCS Headmaster) gave a bible reading, and the service was led by the DCS Chaplain of the time The Rev’d Libby Talbot. Laura was born on the 29th March 1964 and lived in Solihull and other locations throughout the West Midlands until joining the RAF. She married Andy and lived locally in Upleadon.
Laura joined the RAF as a typist in 1981 and was initially based at RAF Hereford. Whilst there, she trained to be a Personnel Administrator and worked for the RAF HR specialists. She completed tours in Scotland, two tours of The Falklands, and other locations in the UK including the Joint Service Command and Staff College. As Flight Sergeant, Laura left the RAF in 2006 after training to become a Specialist Leadership and Management Facilitator at the RAF Leadership and Management School. During this time Laura represented the RAF in horse riding, swimming, diving and netball.
After leaving the RAF, Laura became the PA to the Rural Advocate to the government, working at the Commission for Rural Communities in Cheltenham before finally coming to Dean Close as PA to the Senior Management Team in 2010. Joel (Pickford) her son attended Dean Close from the age of 7 until after his GCSEs before attending Pates for 6th form. Her hobbies were centred around her love of horse riding, especially dressage, at which she excelled, and both she and her horse, Riley entered and won, many competitions in and around the Gloucestershire area.
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OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
August 2016
Marjorie COCKSEDGE, (nee COTTIER)
Born in 1932, Marjorie was originally from Liverpool and a radiographer, Marjorie married Hugh Cocksedge in 1953 when Hugh was teaching at King’s School, Taunton. They moved to Dean Close School in 1958, initially living at Shelburne Hall and then at Gate House where Hugh became Housemaster. Marjorie changed careers once their three children were at school, training as a Domestic Science teacher in Gloucester. They entertained a good deal at Gate House, both boys and staff, and Marjorie tried out exotic new dishes such as pizza and curry.
Every year the family took their caravan to the Dean Close Dartmoor summer camp which Hugh led. The pale blue Land Rover Hugh bought to transport boys around for Duke of Edinburgh award scheme expeditions doubled as the family car. After Dean Close, Marjorie and Hugh moved to Cambridgeshire to set up a rural studies centre for a London comprehensive school. Marjorie used her culinary and domestic skills there to manage the centre. Later they moved to Alton in Hampshire, where Hugh was Deputy Head of Lord Major Treloar College - a school for physically disabled children. Marjorie’s final teaching appointment was at Tante Marie School of Cordon Bleu Cookery. During this period she achieved a lifelong ambition, gaining an Open University degree in Science. She had been denied this opportunity after leaving school, as priority for university places at the time was given to men returning from the war. Hugh and Marjorie became gourmets, enjoying good food and fine wine throughout their long and active retirement. This period included six cosmopolitan years in Ankara, where Hugh was priest for the Anglican Church in the grounds of the Embassy. Again cooking was much in evidence, Marjorie adding an appreciation of Turkish food to her list of accomplishments. They settled back in Hampshire where they continued to entertain regularly and were keen members of the International Wine and Food Society. Marjorie and Hugh are survived by three children, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
44 FLECKER I SUMMER 2017
September 2016 Frank HOWSE who was a long-serving School Electrician and very popular with the pupils, died in September, aged 81. His funeral took place on the 27th September in Cheltenham with friends and family going to the Rising Sun on Cleeve Hill afterwards. Frank worked for many years at Dean Close alongside Dennis Artus and knew the place inside out.
David Rudgley LAVERTON (Walton Court 1952) died on the 2nd September 2016, aged 82. David lived with his family in Badgeworth, locating there as his father was an Engineer at Brockworth Aerodrome. Dean Close was chosen for his education and he started at the beginning of the Second World War at around the age of six. Whilst at Dean Close, David became a very keen cricketer. He was predominately a bowler for the 1st XI but could also score some runs with the bat and was awarded his Colours for cricket in 1952. David was a hockey goalkeeper October 2016 Colin PARRY-WILLIAMS (Tower 1959) died after a long fight with liver cancer on 26th September 2016.
He was one of life’s characters, a one-off, very much his own man and lived life his way. You were always aware of his presence, his laugh, his strong political views and a man who did not suffer fools gladly. He was not an academic but someone who got things done. For many years his life was the transport business, starting with a second hand car transporter, sleeping in the cab, and from this he ended up as Director of a publicity quoted company on the London Stock Exchange. Latterly he was involved in the movement of fruit and vegetables from around the world supplying the major supermarkets, and as an angel investor supporting various businesses. His two great interests were Rugby and Motor Racing. Colin was a member of the 1st Rugby XV which went through the 1959 season unbeaten, quite a record considering the quality of opposition. For such an extrovert he was, on the field, a quiet determined prop forward which reflected his determination in life. He raced his
and was awarded his XXII Colours in his final year. The Decanian mentions that DR Laverton was valiant in defending his goal. Outside of sport David was a L/Cpl in the CCF and was a House Prefect.
After his School years, came National Service and he was enrolled in heavy vehicle recovery. Once this came to an end he got a job working at Pirelli on the electrical side of the business. His role involved selling commercial electrical supplies for large industry. He worked at Pirelli for many years. During his working life, he moved from Gloucester to Gordano, then onto Tavistock, where his wife gave birth to their son, Andrew in 1964. In 1976, the family moved to Cornwall and David retired there in 1997, aged 63. After many years living in Cornwall he and his wife Valerie moved to Pembroke, West Wales to start a small caravan park. Valerie survives David and they were married for nearly 60 years. own Lola T70, a famous car from the ‘70s with the Historic Sports Car Club and his claim to fame was a TV mention by no less than Murray Walker as a driver to watch. Motor Racing matched his individualistic character. He was known by his contemporaries for insisting on wearing his pyjamas on the Parade Ground underneath his CCF uniform which itched him to distraction, much to the dismay of RSM Benions. This was typical Colin.
For all his forthright views, he was a kind and fair man, proud of his country. He leaves wife Jane, of 49 years, 2 sons Simon and Guy, and 4 grandchildren. Thanks to RW (Stan) Close (Tower 1959) for this entry. December 2016 Anthony Austen MAY (Court 1959) died in December 2016 aged 73. He started at Dean Close in the Junior School and came up into Court House in 1957, leaving in 1959. Anthony came back to School in 2012 for a 1950s Reunion. He lived in Coventry in the Midlands.
February 2017 David William Thomason VERITY (Walton 1948) passed away peacefully on 17th February 2017 aged 84. Beloved husband of Sheila, dear father of Susanne and Michael and a much loved grandfather. A Service of Thanksgiving for his Life was held at Salwarpe Church on Thursday, March 9th. David lived with his wife Sheila in Droitwich for many years and whilst at School, and for a while afterwards, lived at Long Itchingham near Rugby.
David entered the Senior School in 1945. Whilst at School he got his house colours for rugby in 1948, gained his certificate “A”, was a cadet in the CCF, became Chairman of the Young Farmers’ Club and was confirmed by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese, The Rt. Rev’d CS Woodward, MC, DD.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
January 2017
The Rev’d John Reddie BLYTH (MA) (Court 1942) died peacefully, aged 91, in a care home at Newick East Sussex on 19th January 2017 following several slight strokes. Born in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire, he later moved with the family to Haslemere, Surrey in 1930. After 9 years at the Stroud Prep School in Grayswood, he entered Dean Close in 1938 into Walton Court House where he became Head of House and Head of School.
He left in 1943 for National Service in the Navy – Sub Lieutenant RNVR and honoured to serve on HMS Norfolk when she repatriated King Haakon of Norway in June 1945 after his 5 years exile in the UK during the war. He studied Classics at Wadham College, Oxford (MA) and while in the Navy felt called to the Anglican ministry and studied Theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge where his Principle was The Rev’d S Faulkner Allison (OD 1919) later Bishop of Winchester. John was ordained in Liverpool Cathedral 1950. John had Curacies in Southport and Hadleywood, Cockfosters. Following that, he became a vicar in Plymouth (in the adjacent parish was the Rev’d (later Rt Rev’d) Denis Waveling (OD 1937) who later became Bishop of Southwell). He later moved to Cambridge to be the organising secretary of The Church Pastoral Aid Society for the Cambridge area 1963 – 1970. Finally, he moved to be the Vicar of St Luke’s Parkstone, Dorset and retired in 1990 to Newick, East Sussex.
He had played in house teams at school and was an accomplished violinist, and in retirement he enjoyed helping the local Vicar and playing in the Burgess Hill Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years. Younger brother of Robert Blyth OD (1941) who died of wounds in France soon after D-Day in 1944, and elder brother of Dr Arthur Graham Blyth OD (1944).
February 2017 Roger Lee STALEY (Walton Court 1949) passed away peacefully at Beech House Care Home in Thornbury, Bristol on Saturday 4th February 2017 aged 83. Roger, a retired farmer and local preacher, lived all his life at Kington Mead Farm, Thornbury. He was a well-respected member of both the Thornbury farming and church community and will be sadly missed by his wife Hazel, children David, Helen and Jonathan, his 6 grandchildren, his 3 great grandchildren and all who knew him. He will be remembered as a true gentleman and a man whose life reflected his faith and his love for God. He entered Dean Close in 1946 and whilst here became very good at gymnastics, gaining his house colours in ’48 and ’49. He also received his house colours for hockey and rugby in ‘49. Staley gained his Certificate “A”, was a cadet in the CCF and became Secretary of the Young Farmers Club. Whilst in office he sold four of the Young Farmers’ reared pigs to the kitchens for a considerable sum, which helped pay to repair the sty! March 2017 Sarah Jennifer CAMPBELL (nee COLLINSON) (Fawley 2003) passed away in the early hours of Saturday 25th March, aged 32. A memorial service for Sarah was held on the 10th April at Christ Church Highbury in London. All donations went to the charity CoppaFeel, and you can still donate at www.sarah-campbell.muchloved.com. Sarah lived in North London with her husband Fraser and worked at John Lewis Head Office.
Sarah joined the School along with her brother Ian, both starting off in the Junior School in the 1990s. When moving up to the Senior School, Sarah boarded in Fawley from 1998 to 2003 and in her U6th year became Head of House for Mrs Burroughs. Whilst at School, Sarah got involved in many aspects of School life; she gained her Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, was the MD of a student’s young enterprise scheme called CobWeb which sold Christmas cards and customised clothing, and also performed in many plays, one of them being Salad Days when she was in the Junior School. At Commemoration in 2003 Sarah was awarded the Woodward Prize for Economics. John Moreton GRIFFITHS (Gate 1954) passed away on the 14th of March 2017 aged 80. John was married to Maggie and they spent a considerable time of their married life in South Africa where John was a Mining Director of a construction equipment company. In retirement they moved to Monmouth. Maggie mentions, “He still possessed his Common Entrance Papers dated June 1950 and l see the fees for his first term were £65! John was a more than fair sportsman and l often had the thoughts of Mr Girling quoted to me during our married life!” John entered the Senior School in 1950 into Gate House and in 1954 was made a House Prefect
alongside JE Cecil, DJ Foster and JM Kemp. He was a good sportsman receiving XXX Colours in Rugby. John always stayed in contact with the School and attended many South Wales OD Area Dinners, usually held at the Royal Hotel in Cardiff, and he also came back when he could to Commemoration. April 2017 Kathryn Ann Claire ROWE-JONES (Shelburne 1983) passed away on the 16th April 2017 aged 51 after a battle with Cancer. Kate boarded in Shelburne House arriving in the Lent term of 1980 and stayed until the end of U6th in 1983. Whilst at School she captained the 2nd VII netball side and in the 1983 season only lost two matches, players in that side included Clare Matthew, Anna Forgaard, Claire Fletcher, Sarah Cowie, Alison Jones, Emma Cookson, Lucy Herring and Melinda Morris. Kate joined 19 other pupils on the School Ski trip in January 1982 which visited Bardonnechia in Northern Italy. On this trip Kate had to be ‘rescued’ after crashing and was brought down on a ‘blood wagon’, all was well though as Kate and teaching staff saw the funny side! Kate also joined in with the theatrical side of Dean Close and on one occasion starred in the Gate House play, ‘A Penny for a Song’, which got great reviews. She also sent her daughter, Olivia, to Dean Close, who followed in her footsteps and also boarded in Shelburne and left in 2015. After leaving Dean Close, she studied Physiotherapy at King’s College, London. During her working life Kate predominately lived in Bournemouth and taught at Bournemouth University, where she had a special interest in qualitative research and the management of long-term disease. Kate was diagnosed with cancer in January 2015. Always a keen gardener, during her treatment one of the most important aspects of her life was her garden. Even on days when she felt really poorly, being able to potter in the garden or greenhouse made her feel physically and psychologically better. Watching The Chelsea Flower Show Kate saw MP, Dr Sarah Wollaston being interviewed, discussing the therapeutic effects of gardening and the healing role it can play. Coupled with this and Kate’s personal experiences of gardening and its positive impact upon her, Kate set up Allium-Healing Spaces to work with those facing the challenges of cancer, turning areas of local wasteland into bountiful gardens. Kate passed away on the 16th April 2017 aged 51.
SUMMER 2017 I FLECKER 45
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
June 2017
Brian was quite the sportsman in the Junior School winning the under eight 80 yard dash in 1944 and the under nine competition the following year. He remembered his time at Dean Close very fondly, even though it was a very distressing time for the country. Brian remembers having to black out all the windows in Fortfield. A black out was enforced across the country to try and scupper German plane navigation and deter night air bombing attacks.
When Brian left DCJS in 1947 all of his class mates and some teachers signed a piece of paper as a farewell, which he always kept.
Brian BATTY (DCJS Fortfield 1947) passed away on the 24th of June 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. Brian was educated DCJS and boarded in Fortfield House. He lived with his wife Kathy in South Africa for the majority of his life but visited Dean Close in 2015 after being away from the School for 70 years! It was a joy to show him and his family around his old Junior School. He also joined us at an OD South Africa Social in Johannesburg in June that same year.
(Mike) Anthony Michael John TOWNSHEND (Tower 1945) passed away peacefully in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on the 12th June 2017, aged 87. Anthony attended Dean Close from 1941 - 1945 alongside his brother Peter (Tower 1943). Peter sent his son to Dean Close, Richard (Dale 1977). Anthony lived in Cranham and Cheltenham all of his life and a Service of Thanksgiving was held at St James The Great in Cranham on 12th July 2017, which followed a family service of committal at Cheltenham Crematorium.
46 FLECKER I SUMMER 2017
August 2017 David Christian James Stuart CLAYRE (Brook 1949) died peacefully in the early hours of August 2nd in Grindsted, Denmark, aged 85, after suffering with Alzheimer’s for the final years of his life. His memorial service took place on 9th August at the Chapel of Grindsted Kirke.
After studying at Dean Close for nine years, alongside his brothers Iain and Alastair, he went on to have a successful career as a Biology teacher, firstly at Alleyns School, Dulwich, then St. Paul’s Boys’ School, before moving permanently to teach Biology at Grindsted Gymnasium & HF in Denmark.
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Dates for the Diary
For more information on these and other events visit our website, www.deanclose.org.uk/Events or call the OD Office.
September 2017 Friday 29th September BUSINESS CLUB BREAKFAST: CYBER SECURITY Pavilion from 8am Join the Business Club in hearing from Old Decanian James Moos (Tower 2011). James is the Technical Security Group Lead for C3IA Solution and will tell us why cyber security is becoming so important for businesses. Visit www.deanclose.org.uk/Business-Club to register. Saturday 30th September LAUNCH OF THE OLD ST JOHNIAN SOCIETY St John's-on-the-hill, Chepstow from 12.30pm All former pupils of St John's-on-the-Hill are invited to join us at the launch of the Old St Johnian Society. To register please email osjalumni@stjohnsonthehill.co.uk
October 2017
Wednesday 4th October A TALK FROM EDDIE THE EAGLE The Bacon Theatre 4pm A whole School lecture. There are a limited number of seats available for guests.
If you would like to join us please email development@deanclose.org.uk or call Felicity on 01242 267439. Friday 13th October FRIDAYS @ 6: LOUIS MORFORD - VIOLIN Prince Michael Hall 6pm
Saturday 14th October DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL OPEN MORNING Open Morning for Parents and Prospective Pupils 2-18yrs. Please call 01242 258044 to register or for more information. Tuesday 17th October
1972ish OLD DECANIAN REUNION Hungerford Some of the Class of 1972ish are meeting up for a pub lunch. For more information, please contact Stephen Oxlade (Court 1972) at stephen@oxlade.org
Thursday 19th October THE AUTUMN MEETING The Berkshire Golf Club Any Old Decanians who would like to play, please contact Alex Hume on ods@deanclose.org.uk Friday 20th October
FRIDAYS @ 6: ASHOK GUPTA Prince Michael Hall 6pm Old Decanian Pianist Ashok (Dale 2006) joins us for our Friday concert series.
To register or for more information email ods@deanclose.org.uk or visit www.deanclose.org.uk/ODGaudy
Thursday 30th November & Friday 1st December THE BEGGAR'S OPERA BY JOHN GAY The Bacon Theatre 7.30pm Tickets for this, the Main Senior School Play, will be in high demand. Please visit www.bacontheatre.co.uk or call 01242 258002 to book your seats.
OD GAUDY Dining Room 7pm All ODs and guests are invited to join us for dinner at School. Tickets £30 for four courses, including drinks.
Sunday 22nd October DEAN CLOSE SIXES Dean Close School Astros from 10.30am The Old Decanian Society hosts the annual Alumni Societies’ Girls’ hockey tournament. Come along and support the ODs.
November 2017
Thursday 9th November OD REUNION; LEAVERS OF THE 1950s Dean Close House from 12.30pm Join us for lunch, tours of the School, afternoon tea, Community Evensong and this evening’s concert. For more information, contact Alex Hume on 01242 258048.
Thursday 9th November COMMUNITY EVENSONG Dean Close School Chapel 5.30pm Everyone is very welcome to join us for Evensong sung by Schola Cantorum and Dean Close Chapel Choir and featuring the première of OD Matthew Martin’s (Gate 1994) Dean Close Evening Service, followed by a drinks reception. Thursday 9th November 20TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT Prince Michael Hall 7.30pm A concert to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Music School. All Welcome. Friday 17th November
Friday 24th November BUSINESS CLUB BREAKFAST: GDPR Pavilion from 8am GDPR and what it means to you. To register or for more information, visit www.deanclose.org.uk/Business-Club December 2017
Wednesday 13th December SERVICE OF NINE LESSONS AND CAROLS Dean Close School Chapel 7pm All are welcome to join us at this annual Service followed by mulled wine and mince pies in the Dining Hall.
Monday 18th December LONDON COMMUNITY CAROL SERVICE St Michael's, Chester Square Belgravia Join us at this special Christmas service followed by mulled wine and mince pies. For more information, email development@deanclose.org.uk
May / June 2018
Saturday 26th May DCS COMMEMORATION
Saturday 23rd June OD DAY Reunions for the classes of 1993, 2008 and 2013. OD Sports versus the School OD AGM For more information on these and other events, visit our website at www.deanclose.org.uk/events or call the OD office
SUMMER 2017 I FLECKER 47
Business conferences and corporate events at Dean Close School
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Meetings and team building Banquet style dining for 80 – 350 people Professionally equipped theatre venue
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48 FLECKER I SUMMER 2017
Distinguished ODs and OD ‘Did you know?’
OLD DECANIAN SOCIETY I DEAN CLOSE SCHOOL
Did you know?
Distinguished OD: Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE, who left Dean Close in 1902, was an Environmentalist, Forester and Author. He founded the Men of the Trees movement and in his lifetime was responsible for the planting of over 27 billion trees worldwide, helping to provide all the paper for today's books in a sustainable way! His mission was to make sure that the trees being planted outweighed those being cut down. He wrote over 30 books, predominately on reforestation and the environment.
Did you know?
That 12 Old Decanians have been Knighted. Sir Hamilton John Leonard who left DCS in 1944 was one of them, in recognition for his work in the courts of law. He worked on many high profile criminal cases and was the first person ever to be appointed from the Old Bailey to Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice.
In time, Fortfield grew to become Dean Close Junior School which officially became a ‘separate’ School from the seniors in January 1947 and in 1999 became known as Dean Close Preparatory School. Boys pictured on the side steps of Fortfield in 1931.
The Rev’d Marcus Morris OBE (Tower 1934) attended Oxford University and served in World War II as an RAF Chaplain. In 1950, he launched a hugely successful weekly comic called Eagle, whose main character was Dan Dare. He went on to have a very distinguished career in the magazine world (where he gained his OBE) and was responsible for the launch of Cosmopolitan in the UK.
Did you know?
The School had a thriving Young Farmers’ Club in the late 1940s to the late 1950s. The pupils of the Club were responsible for rearing pigs on the School site. These pigs bred and had piglets which were fed up on the kitchen leftovers and sold on. The profit was then used to buy Chapel furnishings, such as the benches and pews we sit on today.
Did you know? Fortfield was a boys’ house from 1925 - 2001. In 1925 the Headmaster, Percy Bolton, purchased Fortfield to house 40 junior boys.
SUMMER 2017 I FLECKER 49
OPEN MORNING Saturday 14th October
DC
Pre-Preparatory and Preparatory School
DEAN CLOSE
SCHOOLS
9.00am - 11.00am
CHELTENHAM
Senior School
10.00am Arrival and Registration
C o - e d u c at i o n a l
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Tel: 01242 258044 www.deanclose.org.uk
Day a n d B oa r d i n g
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Ag e 2 - 1 8
Editors: Alex Hume (Dale, 2002) & Connie Parker Supported by RFT and Lydia Evans (Mead, 2014)
Thank you to all those ODs that contributed to the magazine this year.